Aguinaldo was holding his presidential office at the Malolos Church Convent; the Revolutionary Congress, which was framing a Constitution for the future republic, was holding its sessions at the nearby Barasoain Church; while Aguinaldo’s generals were spearheading the liberation of towns, cities, and provinces from Spanish rule.

Aguinaldo regularly issued decrees and laws for the land. Some of those statues were penned by Apolinario Mabini, a lawyer who had been Aguinaldo’s most important political adviser since the previous June 12.

One decree dated Oct. 19, 1898, created a Literary University of the Philippines. This state university was to offer courses in the fields of law, medicine, pharmacy, surgery, and notary public. Its classes began the following December (The Laws of the First Philippine Republic, edited by Sulpicio Guevarra, Manila: National Historical Commission, 1972, pp. 49-61).

The establishment of this university must have stirred many people in various parts of the country because Emilio Jacinto, the former right-hand man of Andres Bonifacio, the Katipunan founder, was so eager to leave his home in Manila for Malolos to enroll in its law course.

Jacinto was an 18-year-old law student at the University of Santos Tomas (UST) in Manila when he joined the Katipunan in 1894. His brilliant mind catapulted himself to become Bonifacio’s most trusted man. He wrote documents for the Katipunan, and Bonifacio brought him along when consulting individuals relevant to the revolutionary cause. They used to visit Mabini at the latter’s house in central Manila.

When the revolution broke out in August 1896, Bonifacio and Jacinto were at each other’s side on the battlefield. Jacinto was then into his second year of law studies in UST. His childhood dream of becoming a legal luminary was abruptly curtailed by this untimely upheaval.

In December 1896, the two friends separated. Bonifacio went to Cavite to settle the issue of replacing the Katipunan with a new revolutionary government. Jacinto proceeded to Laguna to direct the local revolutionary forces there. (It is a wonder why the Katipunan’s second most important man had to descend from the highest echelon to lead a small town combat unit).

In Cavite, Bonifacio met his tragic fate. He lost the revolutionary leadership to Aguinaldo, and after breaking away from that new leadership, was ordered arrested by Aguinaldo, tried by a military tribunal, sentenced to die, and was executed on May 10, 1897. This death left a bitter rift between the Bonifacio and Aguinaldo sides.

Throughout that period, Jacinto stayed in Laguna. During a battle in February 1898, he was wounded in the thigh, was captured by the Spanish soldiers, and nursed in the convent of Santa Cruz, Laguna. When he had recovered, the Spanish authorities released him because he was able to convince them that he was a spy-agent of the Spanish government. He slipped back to Manila to hide (Filipinos in History, Vol. I, Manila: National Historical Institute, 1989, pp. 245-247).

IN November 1898, Mabini surprisingly received a letter from Jacinto. This letter has not been preserved, but what Jacinto said in it can still be envisaged in Mabini’s reply letter dated Nov. 17, 1898, which thus runs in full:

MR. EMILIO JACINTO

My very dear friend:

Many thanks for the present. During the first days, I pretended not to remember you, fearing that they would not approve of our friendship. I needed, then, all their faith in me so that I could give the stamp of regularity on the progress of the government, although I did not accomplish this fully.

When I received your letter, I sent someone to ask Captain Emilio [Aguinaldo] whether you could stay in Malolos with the assurance that nobody would trouble you for what had taken place before. He answered yes, adding that you should forget everything.

Regarding your matriculation fees, it is necessary that you come personally because, having lost your certificate, you have to present an affidavit, signed by two witnesses, to the effect that you have finished First Year Law and you were actually taking up Second Year course. There is still time. December 1st is the deadline.

I am glad of your coming because I am confident that you can be of great help to us.

I am ever at your service in anything that I can be of help.

AP. Mabini (The Letters of Apolinario Mabini, Manila: National Historical Commission, 1965, p. 81).

Mabini’s letter shows that at that time, the Aguinaldo-Bonifacio enmity was still hotly brewing. There were still bad blood, hatred, and fear between the two camps. Those who used to be identified with Bonifacio (like Mabini) were trying their best to play it safe so that they would remain within the revolutionary realm.

It also shows that Jacinto was ready to embrace the other side, even if it was the one responsible for the murder of his former comrade and supreme leader. He was more than willing to do so to fulfill one cherished personal ambition: a law degree.

Mabini was not inviting Jacinto to come to Malolos; he was only answering Jacinto’s inquiries about that past which could affect his law studies.

For unknown reasons, Mabini’s reply never made it to Jacinto; it remained among Mabini’s files. In 1930, the Bureau of Public Libraries (now the National Library) published this and other Mabini letters in a book titled Las Cartas Politicas de Apolinario Mabini (The Political Letters of Apolinario Mabini).

Since it did not reach its addressee, Jacinto never made it to Malolos, too. Then, the Filipino-American War erupted on Feb. 4, 1899, and the newly established Philippine Republic had to flee from Malolos northward, bringing with it its resources and components, including its literary university.

Jacinto resumed his combat activities in Laguna, where malaria struck him and caused his death on April 6, 189. He was only 23.

Meanwhile, the literary university conducted its first and last graduation rites on Sep. 23, 1899, in Tarlac, Tarlac, then the temporary capital of the republic. It conferred degrees on its law and medicine graduates.

By the following November, Aguinaldo had to disband the government and organized a small guerilla fighting force because of the heavy losses against the Americans. The literary university went into its natural demise.

The Americans captured Aguinaldo on March 23, 1901, and put an end to many great dreams.

In 1876, when he was a 15-year-old student at the Ateneo Municipal of Manila, he wrote the poem Por la educación recibe lustre la Patria (Education Gives Luster to the Motherland), which affirmed that education was an instrument that “inspires an enchanting virtue and puts the country in the lofty seat of endless glory” and that whoever procured it may rise until the height of honor � (Rizal’s Poems, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1962, pp. 12, 13). Since he was only a teen-ager, his keen desires for his motherland’s education had always been in his mind.

His first novel, the Noli Me Tangere (Berlin, 1887) sought radical changes in the country’s educational system, such as new curricula that would suit the people’s needs; more schools, books, and instructional equipment; better teaching methods; and good teachers and good benefits to them. It sought the teaching of both local and Spanish languages in order that pupils would understand what were being taught to them. It also asked the removal of the lash as the severe punishment to students who could not memorize and recite a whole catechism book in Spanish (without even understanding a single word of it).

On March 31, 1890, while in Brussels, he told in a letter to his Austrian friend Ferdinand Blumentritt:� “Yes, I believe that the time is approaching when I can return to the Philippines. Then, when I am already there, you will come with your whole family and you will live with me. I have a large library. I shall order a little house built on a hill. Then I shall devote myself to the sciences, I shall read and write history, I shall establish a school, and if you can stand the climate, you will be its director. Then we shall rest and devote our strength to the education of the people, which is my supreme aspiration � (The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Centennial Edition, Part 1, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961, pp. 343-344).

By that time, Rizal was already a matured 28-year-old young professional. His views on education had ripened too. It was now his supreme aspiration.

He knew where he would begin the education of the people. It would be in his hometown of Calamba, which had hills, plains, streams, and forests, and which was facing Laguna Lake. Its calm environment was very conducive to learning. The large library was their family library, which had more than 1,000 volumes of books, aside from scholarly journals and periodicals.

His writings revealed that his aspiration would:

1. Awaken and prepare the mind of the child for every good and desirable ideas -� love for honor, sincere and firm character, clear mind, clean conduct, noble action, love for one’s fellowman, and respect for God (Jose Rizal, Political and Historical Writings, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964, p. 60).

2. Teach love of country because “of all loves, it is the greatest, the most heroic, and the most disinterested � (Rizal’s Prose, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1962, p. 18).

3. Study history because “to foretell the destiny of a nation, it is necessary to open the book that tells of her past� (Political and Historical Writings, p. 130)

4. Stir studies similar to the nosce te ipsum (know thyself) that gives the true concepts of one’s self and drives nations to do great things � (The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Part 1, pp. 71-72).

5. And seek virtues that distinguish and adorn free peoples (ibid., p. 298).

While staying in Hong Kong in December 1891, he wanted to start a portion of his aspiration by building a school.

In a paper titled Colegio Moderno (Modern College), Rizal described how his school would look like. That school was an institution that would form and educate young men of good family and means in accordance with the demands of modern times and circumstances � (Miscellaneous Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal, National Heroes Commission Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964, pp. 141-144).

It would be composed of competent officials, efficient teachers, and carefully screened pupils. The curriculum was rigid; discipline was to be strictly imposed; and every month, the parents or guardians would be informed about their children’s studies, attitude, progress, and health (ibid., p. 144).

The subjects to be taught were morals, religion, hygiene, natural and civil laws, mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, natural history, political economy, world and Philippine history, logic, Spanish rhetoric and poetics, and Spanish, English, French, German, Chinese, and Tagalog languages. There would be sports like gymnastics, fencing, equitation, and swimming. Music, drawing, and dancing would also be taught (ibid., p. 141).

That boarding school was for primary and secondary students like his alma mater, the Ateneo (Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963, p. 521).

In it, Rizal would not run a prejudiced education because he would not allow his school to have Spanish priests as teachers who bellowed at their Filipino students, lectured them with blasphemies against the Filipino race, and used inadequate techniques of instruction. He would make it a melting pot of knowledge and expertise.

However, things were not to turn in his favor. In early 1891, the Spanish Dominican priests in Calamba expelled from their lands and homes the Rizal family and other residents of that town, subjecting many of them to poverty and starvation (Letters Between Rizal and Family Members, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964, pp. 323-324).

Rizal returned to the country on June 26, 1892. But the Spanish authorities arrested him about two weeks later and deported him to Zamboanga del Norte. He failed to implement his supreme aspiration, but through his writings, he hoped that his countrymen would fulfill it.

That aspiration was a system that would build the self-esteem of the Filipino, uplift him from miserable conditions, give him decency, help him become worthy of freedom and civility, and prepare him to earn a living as a patriotic, enlightened, and productive citizen. It would assure him to triumph sweetly and rise until the height of honor.�

Rizal’s supreme aspiration was an educational system that would propel the Filipino people to attain their deserved liberties, material development, and greatness in the “lofty seat of endless glory.�”

He was about 21 years old when he went to Spain for the first time in May 1882. While traveling, he recorded in his diary that his motherland was the seat of all his affection and that he loved it that no matter how beautiful Europe would be, he would still like to go back to her (Reminiscences and Travels of Jose Rizal, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961, pp. 44, 74).

Days after he arrived in Barcelona in June 1882, he wrote the essay El Amor Patrio (Love of Country), which contained the reasons behind that deep fondness for his land of birth. He wrote:

“It is a very natural feeling because there in our country are our first memories of childhood, a merry ode, known only in childhood, from whose traces spring forth the flower of innocence and happiness; because there slumbers a whole past and a future can be hoped. ”

“Is it because love of country is the purest, most heroic[,] and most sublime human sentiment? It is gratitude; it is affection for everything that reminds us of something of the first days of our life; it is the land where our ancestors are sleeping; it is the temple where we have worshipped God with the candor of babbling childhood; it is the sound of the church bell which had delighted us since [we were children]; they are the vast fields, the blue lake, the picturesque banks of the river� (Rizal’s Prose, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1962, pp. 16, 17).

Rizal added that love of country was a great emotion that had been sung for centuries by all men, free or slaves, because it: “ … is never effaced once it has penetrated the heart, because it carries with it a divine stamp which renders it eternal and imperishable. … It has been said that love has always been the most powerful force behind the most sublime actions. Well then, of all loves, that of country is the greatest, the most heroic[,] and the most disinterested” (ibid., p. 18).

Rizal asked the readers to read history, the annals, and the traditions to find that because of this love:� Some have sacrificed for her their youth, their pleasures; others have dedicated to her the splendor of their genius; others shed their blood; all have died, bequeathing to their Motherland an immense fortune: Liberty and glory� (ibid., p. 19).

This essay first appeared in the Manila-based periodical Diariong Tagalog (Tagalog Paper) on August 20, 1882. It inspired a plebeian Manileno named Andres Bonifacio to write a poem faithfully echoing it. Titled Pag-ibig Sa Tinubuang Lupa (Love of the Native Land), Bonifacio’s long Tagalog poem was published in the Katipunan newspaper Kalayaan (Liberty) in its first issue dated January 18, 1896. Its first, sixth, seventh, and eight stanzas were taken from the preceding passages of El Amor Patrio. Those stanzas contained the following lines:

“What other love that can surpass/In purity and in greatness,/The love of the native land?/What other love? No, none there is.

“Why? What immense possession is this/That all obedience to her is tendered?/And to make her more esteemed ever,/Sacrificed even a life so sacred.

“Ah! It is the native Land of birth;/She is the mother, and from her only/Was first seen the pleasant rays of the sun/That gives warmth to the callused body.

“Owed to her is the very first taste/Of the breeze that gives remedy/To the aggrieved heart that struggles/In the depths of grief and agony.”

Bonifacio rewrote Rizal’slove of country is the greatest, the most heroic, and the most disinterested love� into a more effective no other love can surpass, in purity and in greatness, the love of the native land.�

Rizal’s motherland is so loved that her sons and daughters sacrificed their youth, their pleasures, their genius, and even their blood for her” became Bonifacio’s “the motherland is an immense possession that to her all obedience is tendered and even life is sacrificed.�

Rizal’ss “in our country are the first memories of childhood and the memories of the first days of our life” was paraphrased by Bonifacio into “from the mother only was first tasted breeze and seen the pleasant rays of the sun.”

Bonifacio was only 18 years old when he read El Amor Patrio for the first time in Diariong Tagalog. This was the first of Rizal’s works that would shape and sharpen his political convictions.

El Amor Patrio was the most beautiful essay that Rizal wrote. It was the first piece that dawned on the Filipinos one of the bright lights that they needed then—the concept of nationhood and love of country, or the idea that Filipinos had their own native land to mind and love, and that land was the Philippines, not Spain.

Never before had Filipinos read about giving care and love for their nation. They did not have any sense of this virtue before. El Amor Patrio was full of fiery endearment and just concern for the country. Its messages and wisdom urged the Filipinos to invest their time, strength, and knowledge for her.

This essay captured the attention it deserved. The publisher of Diariong Tagalog informed Rizal that the paper’s editorial staff and Manila’s enlightened groups poured praises on it, affirming that no one in the Philippines and Spain could write “an equal literary work so full of opportune concepts and poetic images” (Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963, p. 7).

It created a lasting impact on the hearts of those who had read it, an impact that rubbed off on their principles.

Regarding this article, Rizal’s brother-in-law, Silvestre Ubaldo, cautioned him in a letter dated January 19, 1883: “The news I have heard about you is that you are allegedly hated by those in white robes [friars] because of what was published in Diariong Tagalog, which you wrote while you were still in Barcelona; so take care there; it is advisable that you be careful as it seems that you are now in their black list” (Letters Between Rizal and Family Members, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964, p. 75).

El Amor Patrio led Rizal to become an enemy of the Church and State—the Spaniards were now keeping an eye on him. On the contrary, it enabled him to rise as the future political leader of the Filipinos and to father Filipino nationalism.

Rizal wanted to express that love for the country by bringing enlightenment to his countrymen, by working with them, by encouraging them to maintain their virtues, by helping them attain development, and by devoting himself to the sciences and the study of his country’s history and culture (The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961, Part 1, pp. 21, 38, 196; Part 2, p. 344).

He felt that it was his duty to work for his fellow Filipinos because the philosophy of his entire life had been that love for the nation and her moral and material progress (Miscellaneous Correspondence, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963, p. 167). Even if he died for this duty, he would prefer such death because: “We die only once[,] and if we do not die well, we lose a great opportunity which will never come up again” (Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists, p. 479).

His love for the country was very evident in his desires to always go back to her. Europe was a lovable, free, cultured, and civilized continent; yet he decided to leave it, feeling that it was in his own land where he would be more useful. His friends and compatriots were keeping him from returning, warning him that his destruction was awaiting him there. He did not listen to them because there was that strong urge to be in the place his heart found satisfying for him, beside his loved ones (The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Part 1, pp. 75, 96, 106). He returned to the country in August 1887.

When he was back in Europe again in May 1888, his longing to return again to the country kept inflaming in his heart. Europe to him seemed not suited to his definition of a worthy life. He would rather prefer to offer his life for his fellow Filipinos than stay there forever to lead a pleasurable life (ibid., Part 2, p. 373).

By 1891, he found Europe already becoming burdensome to him (ibid., p. 416). He would totally desert it to breathe in a new environment. He returned to the Philippines for the second time in June 1892 to realize his dreams for her.

Rizal’s love for the motherland meant absolute independence for the country, and for the people: honor and dignity, freedoms and righteousness, education and enlightenment, virtues and character, labor and industry, enrichment of their customs and traditions, studies of their rich history, and devotion to sciences and advancement.

It meant paying back all his debts of gratitude to her because in the natural landscapes and beauties of her tropical paradise, he first felt the strength of the sun and the touch of its rays.

It meant his parents, brother, sisters, relatives, and friends who gave him the love that he needed, the learning that he sought, the care when he was sick, the sympathy when he was in pains, and the laughter when he was in good times.

It meant staying in his country of origin (or going back to her if he was abroad), where he would work at the prime of his life, reminisce at old age, and wait to die because in her earth his ancestors were quietly reposed.

It meant a strong preference for universal peace because it suggested that if one loved his country, he must not injure other nations. Knowing that there would be hatred and retaliation against his beloved motherland once he injured others, he would refrain from doing it if he truly loved her.

Rizal’s love for the motherland meant knowing and cherishing who he was, where he came from, and what he could offer to her. He performed them all with his mind, heart, and spirit.

Lucky is a nation whose people love her because those people are proud of her and have beliefs in their own ability, her leaders prioritize the common good, there is no brain drain as most of those people do not abandon her but pour their talents for her (not for others), there is no financial outflow because her capitalists invest their wealth primarily for her (not for others), and constructive corrections of social defects are applied.

That was what Rizal did. He always thought of his native land, worked for her, cared for her, always returned to her, and even died for her. Although there is no longer a need to die in fighting for the country nowadays, there is at all times the need to work and care for her.

He did not say that the youth was the country’s sole hope. That he said so is misquoting him. Fair hope is very different from being the only hope. This message was in his poem A la Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth), which won the first prize in a literary contest sponsored in 1879 by the Artistic-Literary Lyceum of Manila, a society composed of the leading writers and artists in Manila. He was given a feather-shaped silver pen and a diploma during the awarding ceremonies held on November 29, 1879. Only 18 years old, he bested both the indios (native Filipinos) and mestizos (Filipinos with mixed races) who joined in this contest.

Some people misunderstand Rizal because they have not read the 25-volume Escritos de Jose Rizal (Writings of Jose Rizal), which contains nearly all of his writings and philosophical thoughts. He will be misquoted once he is interpreted through one poem only. Critics should first read him thoroughly before attacking him.

They claim that Rizal was wrong because the youth cannot be the nation’s hope, for they are still dependent on their parents, do not have a voice in national affairs, and are still struggling with their lessons in schools. He was totally wrong, they add, because the young are delinquent, addicted to illegal drugs, join violent and criminal gangs, suffer from unwanted pregnancies and abortion, or give in to smoking, drinking, gambling, and other vices. For them, the faults of some young people frame the general picture of today’s youth.

When Rizal wrote A la Juventud Filipina, it was already the 314th of the 333-year Spanish colonization of the Philippines (1565-1898) – already the decadent era of Spain’s imperial glory.

Under Spain, Filipinos did not have freedom and security for their lives and properties. They were forced to submit themselves and the fruits of their labor to the flag of Spain, the colonial government, and the Roman Catholic Church.

Those who fought for their rights could be stripped of their belongings, arrested, tortured, exiled, or executed. The government taxed them heavily, and the friars taxed them more. They were also obliged to render labor without pay in building roads, highways, bridges, government buildings, church edifices, galleons, and other public works.

Rizal saw the miseries of his people. He himself suffered cruelty one night when a Spanish lieutenant attacked him because he failed to give him the mandatory salute. Rizal did not see him because it was very dark. Despite the wound that he got, he was still imprisoned. Only 17, he appealed to the governor general, but the highest Spanish official in the land only brushed him aside (The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961, Part 1, p. 62).

Rizal wanted an end to the oppression of his people. He would like to get the help of senior Filipino citizens but could not do so because most of them were subservient to the government and the church. He saw that they would rather spend lavishly on fiestas that afterward impoverished them, and cast their fortunes into Masses and religious items like rosaries, scapulars, and statues (Miscellaneous Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal, National Heroes Commission Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964, pp. 92-106).

Seeing that the elder generations of his time were hopeless against tyranny and were submissive to the colonizers, Rizal turned to his fellow youth. A la Juventud Filipina was for the youth of his time. It asked them to excel in the arts, sciences, and professions because it was they, not the elders, who would one day right the wrongs, free the country from Spanish colonization, build a new and independent Filipino nation, and mold a better future (Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformist, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963, p. 187; El Filibusterismo, offset printing of the first edition published in Ghent, Belgium, in 1891, Centennial Edition, Manila: Comision Nacional del Centenario de Jose Rizal, 1961, pp. 44-49).

During those times, the youth meant people in high school, college, and those in the early years of their professions—or those from 13 to 30 years old (Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists, p. 474). Thus, when Rizal talked of the youth, he meant those born from 1860 and above. In 1890, Rizal was 29 and he still considered himself a youth. It is still the same today. People who are 13 to 30 years old are the ones considered the youth.

Since the message was for them, Rizal and his contemporaries tried all they could to fulfill it.

Rizal was 25 when he published the Noli Me Tangere, a novel that asked for extreme repairs of and cures for the cancerous colonial society of his countrymen. He was 29 when he published Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, an old book about the last moments of our ancient nationality and could therefore give Filipinos a chance to know the shadow of the civilization of our ancestors. And he was 30 when he published El Filibusterismo, his second novel that urged the Filipinos to face a tragic revolution to finally end their sufferings.

Andres Bonifacio was 28 when he founded the Katipunan. Emilio Jacinto was only 20 when made the Katipunan secretary-general and one of Bonifacio’s right-hand men.

Emilio Aguinaldo was 27 when he became a revolutionary general and 28 when he was elected the country’s first president in 1897. He was 29 when he declared Philippine independence from Spanish rule on June 12, 1898. He was also 29 when he became the president of the Philippine Republic (1899-1901) on January 23, 1899. He was almost 30 when he began defending that independence and that infant republic against the Americans during the Filipino-American War (1899-1903).

Rizal was in his early twenties when he gave his countrymen the sense of nationhood and independence. Bonifacio was in his twenties too when he envisioned a revolution. Aguinaldo was also in his twenties when he led the establishment of the Philippine Republic.

Because of the youthful Rizal, Bonifacio, and Aguinaldo, the Filipino people were able to acquire their independence, republic, national flag, and national anthem—their nationhood.

Bonifacio’s fellow Katipuneros were also at the peak of their youth when they launched the bloody uprising against Spain in August 1896. They and the other Filipinos who fought during the Filipino-American War were young and dedicated as well.

Mamerto Natividad and Flaviano Yengko were the youngest Filipino generals to perish on the battlefields while fighting the Spaniards, dying at 26 and 22, respectively. Gregorio Del Pilar was 22 years old when an American bullet struck him on the face. He was the youngest Filipino general to die during the Filipino-American War.

Many of the Malolos Congress delegates were Rizal’s high school and college peers. They were the country’s most important lawyers, physicians, pharmacists, engineers, businessmen, writers, educators, and military officers. They were the ones who drafted in 1898-99 the Philippine Political Constitution or the Malolos Constitution, which created the Philippine Republic, mapped the Philippine territory, defined Filipino citizenship, provided civil rights for Filipinos, and established a government that would be elected and run by the Filipino people themselves. By writing this fundamental law of the land, they established the sovereign Filipino nation, which was the supreme goal of the Philippine Revolution.

The youth of Rizal’s time was the first generation of patriotic and idealistic Filipino youth. They were the pioneer young generation that offered their talents, strength, and lives for the motherland. They would have been thoroughly triumphant in winning the goal of building a free nation had not the Americans arrived in the Philippines in May 1898 and launched a bloody war against them in February 1899.

The U.S. government sent 126,468 soldiers and spent US$300 million to murder more than 20,000 Filipino soldiers and more than 200,000 Filipino civilians (House Documents, 57th [U.S.] Congress, Vol. IV, p. 291). They destroyed homes, schools, churches, villages, and towns; stole jewelry and other precious items; annihilated water buffaloes and livestock to serve as their meat; and blasted roads, bridges, highways, cable lines, and railroad lines.

The month-old Philippine Republic was totally defenseless against the United States, which was 122 years old already as a republic. Besides, the Filipinos had exhausted most of their arms and ammunition against Spain.

The youth of Rizal’s time tried but failed to fulfill his message for them because the Americans won the Filipino-American War and ruled the country until 1946. However, the noblest fruits of their efforts – the national flag and the national anthem – are still well and alive today, consecrated and honored by the people and recognized by law.

On June 12, 1898, the flag was waved and the anthem was played officially for the first time to mark the birth of the Filipino nation. Today, the flag is still unfurled and the anthem is still sung, which only proves that they are the genuine living legacies of the Philippine Revolution.

Rizal’s call on the youth to become the fair hope of the motherland is still applicable today. Millions of today’s young people in all nations have the ability to build better generations and better civilizations.

——————

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A native of Catarman, Northern Samar, now living in Metro Manila. He graduated with an AB History degree from a college in Makati City. He writes in Filipino and English, and since 2000 has been publishing short stories, historical fiction for children, and essays in Liwayway, Junior Inquirer, Philippine Panorama, and The Modern Teacher.

He began writing the Noli in late 1884, when he was still studying in Madrid, Spain, and finished it on February 21, 1887, in Berlin, Germany, while in poverty amidst a harsh winter. Only 25 years old then, he had already produced a 465-page manuscript. It went into publication in March 1887 in Berlin, when its printer churned out its first 2,000 hardbound copies.

Those copies were worth around P300 in all; hence, the printing cost for each copy was 15 cents or less. Rizal sold each copy for five pesetas (one peso) and gave a ten per cent commission to his friends who acted as distributors and sellers (Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963, pp. 126-127).

The Noli is a social novel portraying the Philippines in the years 1882-83, part of the remaining two decades of the waning Spanish rule. It was written in the Spanish language, had 63 chapters and an epilogue, and was dedicated by Rizal to his motherland.

Taken from John 20:17 of the Bible, its title is a Latin phrase which means “touch me not.” In the novel, the one saying it was the malignant social cancer that was pestering the nation. The cancer was saying it because before the Noli, no one wanted to examine or “touch” it. Rizal was the first person to touch it and offer its remedies.

Rizal said that he wrote the Noli to awaken Filipino patriotism and to ask the Spanish authorities in the Philippines and Spain to cure that cancer through drastic reforms in the government, clergy, church, military, and education (ibid., pp. 252, 83-84).

Themes. The two major themes of the Noli are the patriotism of its heroes and the battle between good and evil in which evil prevailed in the end. The evil (wicked priests and government officials) did all their best to defeat the good (heroes).

Though it won convincingly in the end, the evil did not eclipse the other themes of the novel, such as the romances and hopes of its good-natured characters, the defects of the less educated, and the wit, humor, and laughter of its hilarious figures.

Characters. There are two heroes in the novel: Juan Crisostomo Ibarra and Elias. Ibarra was a 23-year-old son of Spanish-Filipino parentage, highly educated, and belonged to a wealthy family. Elias was a poor young man who suffered tyrannies from the Spaniards. They both loved their native land and committed their lives for her betterment.

Ibarra preferred that the Philippines remain a Spanish colony and praised its authorities for attempting to improve its rule. Elias had already lost his faith in the government, yet he still wanted peaceful means to attain reforms. But if they were no longer possible, only then would he opt for an armed resistance to win the country’s independence. Their differing beliefs did not hinder them from becoming friends.

The wealthy Captain Tiago favored the marriage of his only daughter, Maria Clara, to Ibarra. Maria Clara was Ibarra’s childhood friend. Although her parents were Filipinos, she had Spanish features (hair with an almost golden hue and skin as white as cotton), and the fat friar Father Damaso Verdolagas, a Spaniard, was her godfather. Father Damaso was the former parish priest of San Diego, Ibarra’s birthplace.

Other characters are Doña Victorina de los Reyes, a socialite Filipina who ignored her Filipino origin by espousing the Spanish ones; Father Bernardo Salvi, the successor of Father Damaso as San Diego’s parish priest; the Alferez, the Spanish commander of the civil guards in San Diego; Tasio the Philosopher, an old sage residing in San Diego; Sisa, his neighbor; Basilio and Crispin, the young sons of Sisa and sextons in the parish church of San Diego; and more.

Summary. Ibarra returned to the Philippines after his seven-year studies in Europe to fulfill his plans, which were to take over his family’s properties that he inherited from his father, to build a grade school in San Diego, and to marry Maria Clara.

On his return, he was shocked to learn that his father, Don Rafael, was persecuted on wrong charges and died in prison. Father Damaso ordered that Don Rafael’s body be dug up and transferred to the Chinese cemetery. When the gravedigger dug it one dark night, it rained, and because the coffin was so heavy, he just thrust it into the lake.

Ibarra still went ahead with his plans. But unknown to him, he had an adversary who marked him as a dangerous man and an enemy of the Church and State. This adversary devised a rebellion in San Diego in which he made Ibarra as its brains. Before that rebellion broke out, Father Salvi was able to alert the civil guards; thus, it was easily subdued. Ibarra and many others were sent to Manila as prisoners. Elias was able to secure Ibarra’s jewelry and money.

Elias also helped him escape from prison in Manila one night. As the authorities pursued them in Laguna Lake, Elias leapt into the water to divert attention. The soldiers fired at him, and saw traces of blood in the waters, leading them to conclude that Ibarra was killed and drowned. Ibarra remained hiding in the boat on his way to escape.

On December 24, the bloodied and dying Elias arrived in the Ibarra family’s forest in San Diego, where he found Basilio grieving over the dead Sisa. Ibarra also arrived there. With Basilio helping, he buried Sisa’s body and burned Elias’ corpse. Then he dug his possessions that Elias buried, gave Basilio coins, and finally fled, leaving his dear country and Maria Clara.

Friends and Foes. Like what Rizal wished, the Noli gave him fame. It was critically reviewed and praised in Europe and the Philippines, yet it also gave him enemies.

On August 30, 1887, five months after it was published, the Dominican Father Pedro Payo, the Archbishop of Manila, asked Emilio Terrero, the governor general of the Philippines, to ban it in the country. That after the three professors from the University of Santo Tomas whom he appointed to scrutinize it pronounced it “heretic, scandalous, and injurious.”

Terrero then asked Father Salvador Font of the Permanent Commission on Censorship to study the book. On December 29, 1887, Font recommended that “the importation, reproduction, and circulation of this pernicious book …be prohibited” for its severe attacks on the religion of the State, the government, Spaniards, the courts, the military, and the integrity of Spain, and because its only objective was the absolute independence of the country (ibid., pp. 736-737).

The novel was therefore banned in the country. Anyone caught possessing, selling, or reading it was putting his life in danger (The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Centennial Edition, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961, Part 1, pp. 197-198).

But the ban only excited the people. Hundreds of copies were smuggled into the country and sold secretly. Many bookstores found fortune with this book because its price skyrocketed, costing as high as P50 per copy. Rizal profited nothing from those sales (Miscellaneous Correspondence, Centennial Edition, Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963, p. 98).

Faithfulness. The unpaved roads (dusty or muddy according to the seasons), the one-way wooden and rickety bridges, and the iron grilles that Ibarra twisted when he was a young boy and had remained not straightened were colonial settings painted with faithfulness.

Rizal was able to distinguish progress from stagnation owing to his trips abroad, where he saw that much time, planning, and money were being fueled for growth and advances. In his country, Spain was ineffective to set itself straight as a colonial master; as a result, the colony was in rough, rickety, and twisted conditions.

Despite the many trips, big cities, and beautiful women, Ibarra had not forgotten Maria Clara and had always kept in memory his countrymen and their hopes and grief. His love for her and the one he offered to the country were fused into one single love.

Enlightened citizens, who were few, called the old man Anastacio a philosopher. The ignorant, who were the majority, derided him as Tasio the Lunatic. The books he was writing were not for the people of his time, for they would burn them once they read them. His books were intended for future generations that would be advanced, understand him, and thus say: “Not all slept at the night of our ancestors.” However, his efforts wound up in futility because the pious burned all of his books and writings when he died.

The celibacy of friars was an object of suspicion. Father Damaso was very concerned with the decisions, marriage, and sudden sickness of Maria Clara, to the wonder of the maiden.

At the procession during San Diego’s fiesta, a woman with Filipino features was watching with her Hispanic-looking infant. When Father Salvi was passing them, the infant stretched his hands, joyously calling out “Papa, papa” after him amid the brief silence and malicious winks. The baby cried when his mother held tightly his mouth and brought him away.

When Maria Clara decided to enter the nunnery after learning Ibarra’s assumed death, Father Damaso fought against it because of the life and mystery hiding within the cloister walls.

That of Sisa was a very sad story. She was a mother who was “frail of disposition and had more heart than brain.” Her god was her gambling husband, who began maltreating her after draining her jewelry and, like all false gods, became more ruthless each passing day.

Her two young sons were her angels. One night, Basilio was grazed on the forehead by a bullet from civil guards. His brother Crispin, accused of stealing, was beaten to death by the priest and head sexton in the convent. Because of those incidents, Sisa lose her sanity.

At the novel’s end, Basilio found and ran after his mad mother, telling her that it was he, Basilio, her son. He caught up with her and lost his senses in her bosom. All of a sudden, there was a spark in her brain: she recovered her former self and let a loose cry after recognizing him. Later, the boy woke up to find his poor mother no longer breathing.

These characters are genuine and unforgettable. They depict real people and those real people’s virtues, defects, hopes, or failures in noble, correct, admirable, good, or not-so-good angles. They provoke warmth, excitement, laughter, suspicions, and criticisms, making readers to not forget but rather imitate them for pure fun, or utilize them while criticizing the errors in the government and society. They possess the flesh, blood, and savagism of enduring literature. They are the ones that have made the Noli a great literary work.

The greatness of the Noli Me Tangere created the greatness of Rizal. Rizal’s greatness was further heightened by El Filibusterismo and was rendered immortal and unequalled by his martyrdom on December 30, 1896.

——————

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A native of Catarman, Northern Samar, now living in Metro Manila. He graduated with an AB History degree from a college in Makati City. He writes in Filipino and English, and since 2000 has been publishing short stories, historical fiction for children, and essays in Liwayway, Junior Inquirer, Philippine Panorama, and The Modern Teacher.

In the 1880’s, the Filipino propagandists in Spain and other countries in Europe claimed that Rizal was the only one capable of uniting them, a model Filipino, the personification of Spanish Oceania, the titular head of the Filipinos, their illustrious countryman, a distinguished Filipino literary man, and author of various works that had merited general applause.

They also elected him unanimously as the honorary president of their society, Asociación La Solidaridad (Solidarity Association), founded on December 31, 1888, in Barcelona, Spain. Marcelo Del Pilar, his main rival, had to salute his moral and intellectual leadership.

Rizal Cult

In the Philippines, Andres Bonifacio established the Rizal cult or the tradition of venerating Rizal.

As the supreme leader of the Katipunan, he ordered that the word Rizal be used as the password of Bayani (Patriot), the highest-grade Katipunero; that Rizal’s pictures be hung in the meeting hall of the Katipunan Supreme Council and in other meeting places; and that Rizal’s name be used as a Katipunan cry for unity and liberty. He also elected Rizal as the Katipunan honorary president, and solicited Rizal’s views regarding their plans against Spain.

In early 1897, while in Cavite trying to reconcile the local Katipunan factions, Bonifacio issued a proclamation condemning the Spanish atrocities against Filipinos, and “the brutal execution of our most beloved countryman, the Honorable Jose Rizal.”

Greatest Filipino Hero

On March 22, 1897, General Emilio Aguinaldo was elected president of the revolutionary government that replaced the Katipunan. In December 1897, after signing a peace treaty with the Spanish rulers, he and his companions left for Hong Kong; but since the Spaniards had no intent of honoring the treaty, they decided to return to the country. In April 1898, their comrades issued a proclamation, whose concluding part said:

“Our unworthy names are as nothing, but one and all of us invoke the name of the greatest patriot our country has seen, in the sure and certain hope that his spirit will be with us in these moments and guide us to victory¾our immortal Jose Rizal.”

Signed by the members of the Central Filipino Committee in Hong Kong, this document hailed Rizal as the greatest patriot of the Filipino people. The revolutionary leaders knew that he was their inspiration, their rallying cry, and their unparalleled countryman, hence the greatest patriot ever to come out of their native land.

It was the Filipino people who felt, recognized, and hailed that the most beloved Filipino and the most famous Filipino martyr was the greatest Filipino hero.

Rizal’s prophecy

Aguinaldo returned on May 19, 1898, and the following June 12, declared the country’s independence from Spain. A portion of the Act of Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People reads thus:

“We approve, recognize, and confirm, together with the orders already issued therefrom, the Dictatorship established by Don Emilio Aguinaldo, whom we honor as the Supreme Chief of this Nation, which begins on this day to have a life of its own, in the belief that he is the instrument selected by God, in spite of his humble origin, to effect the redemption of this  unfortunate country, as foretold by Doctor Jose Rizal in the magnificent verses which he composed in his prison cell moments prior to his execution, liberating it from the yoke of Spanish domination, in punishment for the impunity with which its government allowed the commission of abuses by its subjects; and for the unjust execution of said Rizal and others who were sacrificed to please the greedy friars ….”

According to this passage, Rizal’s prophecy of freedom was being fulfilled—the country was being liberated as punishment for Spain for its abuses and for the execution of Rizal and others. That prophecy was in the 9th stanza of Rizal’s last poem, which runs thus:

“Pray thee for all the hapless who have died,/For all those who unequalled torments have undergone,/For our poor mothers who in bitterness have cried,/For orphans, widows, and captives to tortures were shied;/And pray too that you may see your own redemption.”

That redemption was none other than the recovery of Philippine independence. It was realized on June 12, 1898, when Filipinos declared to the world that they were already free and independent as a nation. And the founding fathers did not forget that it was Rizal who inspired and prophesied it.

Original Rizal Day

On December 20, 1898, President Aguinaldo issued a decree designating December 30 as a national day of mourning “in memory of the great Filipino patriot Dr. Jose Rizal and others who faithfully loved the native land and were martyred by the former Spanish domination.”

The decree clarified that the manner of the mourning would be observed by hoisting the Filipino flag at half-mast from noon on December 29 to noon the next day, and by closing all offices under the jurisdiction of the revolutionary government on December 30.

The founding fathers chose Rizal’s execution day as the fitting holiday for Filipino heroes because he was the most deserving Filipino to be given a special day of attention. They did not choose the death anniversary of Lopez Jaena (January 20), Del Pilar (July 4), or the Gomburza (February 17). Others were not so great as he was and deserving also of a special day of observance; therefore, the sacrifices of all the other Filipino patriots fell on his hallowed day.

The revolutionary newspapers put out issues honoring Rizal Day: La Independencia (Independence) on December 29, 1898; and Republica Filipina (Philippine Republic) and El Heraldo de la Revolución (Herald of the Revolution), the official newspaper of the Philippine government, on December 30, 1898. In these issues, some of Rizal’s poems and essays were published, while his life, works, and heroism were discussed.

The Club Filipino celebrated that holiday in Manila through a musical-literary program. Songs, piano and guitar performances, poetry readings, declamations, and discourses on the political life and labor of Rizal were rendered and witnessed by leading Filipino personalities then, such as Pedro Paterno, Telesforo Chuidian, Fernando Ma. Guerrero, and Antonio Luna.

The first Rizal Day galvanized national pride. The people spent a special day to celebrate a magnificent past of the greatest martyr from their very own race, as well as the sacrifices of the other heroes of their native land. La Independencia gave for it an apt description: “December 30 is the first memorable date to be registered in our national history.”

Thus was how Filipinos made Rizal their national hero.

An Insane Theory

There is a theory which claims that it was the American colonial authorities, particularly William Howard Taft, who declared Rizal as the national hero, encouraged the cult venerating Rizal as the country’s greatest patriot, and made December 30 a holiday. Taft, who arrived in the country on June 3, 1900, served as chairman of the Second Philippine Commission, the body that U.S. President William McKinley created to exercise the legislative powers of the U.S. colonial government in the Philippine Islands.

The theory has it that because Taft, during a session of the Commission, decided that Rizal be the national hero, Rizal Day has become a public holiday since then. Taft’s decision became the genesis of Rizal Day.

There is no law, proclamation, or any other document which Taft signed and in which he said: “I, William Howard Taft, hereby declare Rizal as your national hero.” Nothing.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, some Americans who wrote books on the Philippines were ignorant of the admiration, tributes, and the holiday that the Filipinos had already bestowed on Rizal. Their ignorance led them to assume, allege, and finally claim that it was the American colonial authorities who elevated Rizal to greatness. Thus, this theory was born, and since then it has brainwashed many readers, students, writers, and scholars of Philippine history.

This theory is an insanity, if not stupidity, because how can the alleged decision of Taft making Rizal the national hero be the origin of Rizal Day when before Taft arrived in the country, the Filipinos had already recognized Rizal as their greatest patriot and had already celebrated December 30 as their first-ever national holiday?

History has it that it was the Filipino people who hailed Rizal as their guide to nationhood, the prophet of their independence, their honored leader, their cry for war and liberty, their most beloved countryman, and their greatest patriot—their national hero.

Sources

Agoncillo, Teodoro A. The Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan. 1996 edition. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, Inc., 1956.

Agoncillo, Teodoro A. The Writings and Trial of Andres Bonifacio. Manila, 1963.

“La Velada del 30 Diciembre de 1898.” Republica Filipina (Mandaloyon) January 1, 1899, p. 3.

F. G. “El Luto Nacional.” La Independencia (Manila) December 31, 1898, p. 2.

June 12, 1898 and Other Related Documents. Manila: National Historical Institute, 1998.

Rizal’s Correspondence with Fellow Reformists. Centennial Edition. Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1963.

Rizal’s Poems. Centennial Edition. Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1962.

Robinson, Albert G. The Philippines: The War and the People. New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1901, cited in Teodoro A. Malolos: Crisis of the Republic. 1996 edition. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, Inc., 1960.

Villadez, P. P. “Notas de la semana.” La Independencia (Manila) December 31, 1898, p. 1.

——————

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A native of Catarman, Northern Samar, now living in Metro Manila. He graduated with an AB History degree from a college in Makati City. He writes in Filipino and English, and since 2000 has been publishing short stories, historical fiction for children, and essays in Liwayway, Junior Inquirer, Philippine Panorama, and The Modern Teacher.

At the age of five, young Manuel was taught by his mother how to read and write Spanish and learn the catechism. Two years later, he lived with the parish priest of Baler, Fr. Teodoro Fernandez, under whom he studied religion. Latin, geography and grammar. Even as a youth Manuel had demonstrated traits which were to remain with him as his assets when he became the leader of his people. He was endowed with aptitudes and qualities, such as great ambition and pride, earnest desire to learn, readiness to render service, a good sense of humour and lack of inferiority complex. He was besides being handsome, naturally gifted with a strong personality and the fine presence and tact.

At the age of eleven, young Quezon was brought to Manila by his father to study at San Juan de Letran. At Letran, he was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1894 with the highest honors. In his study of law and jurisprudence in the University of Santo Tomas, he obtained again high scholastic honours along with Sergio Osme�a, his friend and rival, and with whom he later had a colourful political career.

At the time he was studying jurisprudence, the Revolution broke out. He laid aside his books and joined the forces of General Emilio Aguinaldo, and fought in the bloody battles of Tarlac, Pampanga and Bataan. Because of his bravery and heroism, he was promoted from second lieutenant to brigade captain and then to major. After the Revolution, he resumed his law studies and passed the bar, fourth place, in 1903. He had started a lucrative law practice in Manila and Tayabas when the Civil Government appointed him provincial fiscal of Mindoro and later, Tayabas, his native province. In 1905, he was elected Governor of Tayabas; and in 1907, first assemblyman from the same province to the First Philippine National Assembly.

In 1909, he was appointed Resident Commissioner to the United States. As a Commissioner, he obtained for the Philippines three important measures, namely, a Filipino majority in the Philippine Commission; the surrender of all legislative rights to the Filipinos by the creation of Philippine Senate; and the solemn pledge of independence for the Philippines by the Congress of the United States. For eight years he was a Resident Commissioner in the United States.

Despite a busy life, Quezon was not behind in bringing in a romantic chapter. It was at this time, when our gallant, generous and affectionate patriot sought the hand of his cousin, Aurora Aragon. Their romance culminated in a simple and unobtrusive ceremony in Hong Kong on December 14, 1918. Out of their happy successful wedlock, three children were born, namely: Zenaida, Maria Aurora, and Manuel, Jr.

At the end of his term as Resident Commissioner, he returned to the Philippines and became the President of the Philippine Senate. On September 17, 1935, he was elected first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Having been re-elected in 1941, he assumed office at the outbreak of the Pacific War, and headed the Philippine Government-in-exile in the United States.

Death overtook Quezon in the midst of his war efforts in a foreign land. He died of tuberculosis on August 1, 1944, at Saranak Lake, New York. As a symbol of respect for President Quezon, the Americans caused his remains to be buried at Arlington Cemetery, in Virginia, where only American heroes lie. Two years later, the remains were brought to the Philippines and interred at North Cemetery, Manila.

Acknowledgment: This biography is from the files of the National Historical Institute, Manila, and contributed to emanila.com by Renato Perdon. We have retitled the file “Manuel L. Quezon (1878-1944)” to “Manuel L. Quezon – Ama ng Wikang Pambansa” on the occasion of Linggo ng Wika, August 2002.

Siya’s may pambihirang katalinuhan. Sa gulang na labing-isang taon ay iniluwas siya sa Maynila ng kanyang mga magulang upang sa ilalim ng anumang kaparaanan ay makapagpatuloy ng pag-aaral.

Sa Tundo, si Francisco ay nabantog sa pagiging makata. Dito rin niya nakilala ang balitang si Huseng Sisiw, na masasabing unang pinagparangalan ng kanyang mga kinathang awit bago limbagin.

Nanirahan din siya sa Pandakan. Dito niya nakilala si Selya o Maria Asuncion Rivera. Hindi napangasawa ni Francisco si Selya at ang pangingibig niya rito’y nagbunga ng kanyang pagkabilanggo dahil sa mga maling paratang.

Sa Bataan, si Francisco ay humawak ng mga tungkuling kinikilala at pinagpipitagan ng bayan nang panahon yaon. Namatay si Francisco Baltasar noong Pebrero 20, 1862, sa gulang na 74 na taon. Ang kaniyang pagkamatay ay dinamdam at ipinagluksa ng buong bayan.

Ang karamihan sa mga sinulat ni Baltasar ay tungkol sa aping kalagayan ng Pilipinas noon. Ang pinakabantog sa mga ito’y ang kanyang “Florante at Laura,” isang nobelang patula tungkol sa isang kaharian sa Europa, at di-tuwirang tumatalakay sa kahabag-habag na kalagayan ng bansang ito noong panahon ng mga Kastila.

Ani Mariano Ponce, “Si Balagtas ang prinsipe ng mga makatang Tagalog.” Sinabi ni Dr. Jose Rizal nang tukuyin ang walang-kamatayang awit ni Balagtas, “Ang Florante at Laura ay isang katha sa wikang Tagalog na lumusog at dumingal.”

Pagpapasalamat
Ang talambuhay ni Francisco Baltasar (Balagtas) na nakalathala dito ay hango sa aklat na pinamagatang Pilipino I – Sining at Husay sa Kumunikasyong Pilipino ng Philippine Book Company. / webmaster rc, 22 August 1999 -  Emanila Team

Balagtas was born in the barrio of Panginay, in Bigaa, Bulacan, on April 2, 1788. He was the youngest child of Juan Balagtas, a blacksmith, and Juana dela Cruz. He learned his cartilla, caton, trisagio, and the religious mysteries from the parochial school of Bigaa. His parents were so poor that at the age of 11, he was sent to Tondo, Manila, to work as a houseboy and enable him to study further.

Nothing was known of him until the age of 24, when he enrolled at the Colegio de San Jose. He studied ecclesiastical law, the humanities, theology and philosophy. He had as his mentor the famous professor, Father Mariano Pilapil, author of religious books in Tagalog. Finishing his courses, he continued his studies at the San Juan de Letran College.

From Tondo, he moved to Pandacan, Manila, in 1835. Having started to become a poet, here he met, ‘Celia’, who was Maria Asuncion Rivera, the inspiration for his future successes. His rival for her hand caused him to be put to jail and there, many believed, he spend his time creating his masterpiece, the famous Florante at Laura. Upon his release, he was appointed an auxilliary justice of the peace of Bataan. He won the affection of a pretty, rich woman, Juana Tiambeng, whom he married on July 22, 1842. They had 11 children, seven of whom died before 1906.

Baltasar became teniente mayor of Orion, and a juez de mayor desementeras. But one time, being accused of shearing the head of a rich man’s maidservant, he was placed in jail in Bataan and, later, in the Bilibid Prison, Manila. During his second incarceration, he devoted his time to the writing of many moro-moro plays until 1860, when he was released.

Returning to Orion, Bataan, he continued writing poetry and engaged himself in translating Spanish documents until his death on February 20, 1862.

Acknowledgment
We thank the officers and researchers of the National Historical Institute, Manila for this piece. Thanks also to Mr Renato Perdon for taking the time to send this to us. Mr Perdon is a professional translator, author, and historian. / webmaster rc 220899 – Emanila Team

When I wrote Noli Me Tangere, I asked myself whether bravery was a common thing in the women of our people. I brought back to my recollection and reviewed those I had known since my infancy, but there were only few who seem to come up to my ideal. There was, it is true, an abundance of girls with agreeable manners, beautiful ways, and modest demeanor, but there was in all an admixture of servitude and deference to the words or whims of their so-called “spiritual fathers” (as if the spirit or soul had any father other than God), due to excessive kindness, modesty, or perhaps ignorance. They seemed faded plants sown and reared in darkness, having flowers without perfume and fruits without sap.

However, when the news of what happened at Malolos reached us, I saw my error, and great was my rejoicing. After all, who is to blame me? I did not know Malolos nor its young women, except one called Emilia, and her I knew by name only.

Now that you�ve responded to our first appeal in the interest of the welfare of the people; now that you have set an example to those who, like you, long to have their eyes opened and be delivered from servitude, new hopes are awakened in us and we now even dare to face adversity, because we have you for our allies and are confident of victory.

No longer does the Filipina stand with her head bowed nor does she spend her time on her knees, because she is quickened by hope in the future; no longer will the mother contribute to keeping her daughter in darkness and bring her up in contempt and moral annihilation. And no longer will the science of all sciences consist in blind submission to any unjust order, or in extreme complacency, nor will a courteous smile be deemed the only weapon against insult or humble tears the ineffable panacea for all tribulations. You know that the will of God is different of that of the priest; that religiousness does not consist of long periods spent on your on your knees, nor in endless prayers, big rosarios, and grimy scapulars, but in spotless conduct, firm intention and upright judgement.

You also know that prudence that does not consist in blindly obeying any whim of the little tin god, but in obeying only that which is reasonable and just, because blind obedience is itself the cause and origin of those whims, and those guilty of it are really to be blamed. The official or friar can no longer assert that they alone are responsible for their unjust orders, because God gave each individual reason and a will of his or her own to distinguish the just from the unjust; all were born without shackles and free, and nobody has a right to subjugate the will and the spirit of another. And why should you submit to another your thoughts, seeing that thought is noble and free?

It is cowardice and erroneous to believe that saintliness consists in blind obedience and that prudence and the habit of thinking are presumptuous. Ignorance has ever been ignorance, and never prudence and honor God, the primal source of all wisdom, does not demand that man, created in his image and likeness, allow himself to be deceived and hoodwinked, but wants us to use and let shine in the light of reason with which He has so mercifully endowed us. He may be compared to the father who gave each of his sons a torch to light their way in the darkness bidding them keep its light bright and take care of it, and not put it out and trust to the light of the others, but to help and advice each other to find the right path. They would be madmen were they to follow the light of another, only to come to a fall, and the father could unbraid them and say to them: “Did I not give each of you his own torch,”, but he could not say so if the fall were due to the light of the torch of him who fell, as the light might have been dim and the road very bad.

The deceiver is fond of using the saying that “It is presumptuous to rely on one�s own judgment,” but, in my opinion, it is more presumptuous for a person to put his judgment above that of the others and try to make it prevail over theirs. It is more presumptuous and even blasphemous for a person to attribute every movement of his lips to God, to represent every whim of his as the will of God, and to brand his own enemy as an enemy of God. Of course, we should not consult our own sense that is most reasonable to us. The wild man from the hills, if clad in a priest�s robe, remains a hillman and can only deceive the weak and ignorant. And, you will be lucky if the carabao does not become lazy on account of the robe. But I will leave this subject to speak of something else.

Youth is a flower-bed that is to bear rich fruit and must accumulate wealth for its descendants. What offspring will be that of a woman whose kindness of character is expressed by mumbled prayers; who knows nothing by heart but awits, novenas, and the alleged miracles; whose amusements consists in playing panguingue or in the frequent confession of the same sins? What sons will she have but acolytes, priest�s servants, or cockfighters? It is the mothers who are responsible for the present servitude of our compatriots, owing to the unlimited trustfulness of their loving hearts, to their ardent desire to elevate their sons. Maturity is the fruit of infancy and the infant is formed on the lap of its mother. The mother who can only teach her child how to knell and kiss hands must not expect sons with blood other than of vile slaves. A tree that grows in the mud is unsubstantial and good only for firewood. If her son should have a bold mind, his boldness would be deceitful and will be like the bat that cannot show itself until the ringing of the vespers. They say that prudence is sanctity. But, what sanctity have they shown us? To pray and kneel a lot, kiss the hand of the priests, throw money away on churches, and believe all the friar sees fit to tell us; gossip, callous rubbing of noses�

As to the gifts to God, is there anything in the world that does not belong to God? What would you say of a servant making his master a present of a cloth borrowed from that very master? Who is so vain, so insane that he will give alms to God and believe that the miserable thing he has given will serve to clothe the Creator of all things? Blessed be they who succor their fellow men, aid the poor and feed the hungry; but cursed be they who turn s dead ear to supplications of the poor, who only give to him who has plenty and spend their money lavishly on silver altar hangings for the thanksgiving, or in serenades and fireworks. The money ground out of the poor is bequeathed to the master so that he can provide for chains to subjugate, and hire thugs and executioners. Oh, what blindness, what lack of understanding!

Saintliness consists in the first place in obeying the dictates of reason, happen what may. “It is acts and not words that I want of you,” said Christ. “Not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.” Saintliness does not consist in abjectness, nor is the successor of Christ to be recognized by the fact that he gives his hand to be kissed. Christ did not give the kiss of peace to the Pharisees and never gave His hand to be kissed. He did not cater to the rich and vain; he did not mention scapularies, nor did he make rosaries, or solicit offerings for the sacrifice of the mass or exact payments for His prayers. Saint John did not demand a fee on the River Jordan, nor did Christ teach for gain. Why, then, do the friars now refuse to stir a foot unless paid in advance? And, as if they were starving, they sell scapularies, rosaries, bits, and other things which are nothing but schemes for making money and detriment to the soul; because even if all the rags on earth were converted into scapularies and all the trees in the forest into rosaries, and if the skins of all the beasts were made into belts and if all the priests of the earth mumbled prayers over all this and sprinkled oceans of holy water over it, this would not purify a rogue or condone sin where there is no repentance. Thus, also, through cupidity and love of money, they will, for a price, revoke the numerous prohibitions such as those against eating meat, marrying close relatives, etc. you can do almost anything if you but grease their palms. Why that? Can God be bribed and bought off, and blinded by money, nothing more nor less than a friar? The brigand who has obtained a bull of compromise can live calmly on the proceeds of his robbery, because he will be forgiven. God, then, will at a table where theft provides the viands? Has the omnipotent become pauper that He must assume the role of the excise man or gendarme? If that is the God whom the friar adores, then I turn my back upon that God.

Let us be reasonable and open our eyes, especially you women, because you are the first to influence the consciousness of man. Remember that a good mother does not resemble the mother that the friar has created; she must bring up her child to be the image of the true God, not of a blackmailing, a grasping god, but of a God who is the father of us all, who is just; who does not suck the life-blood of the poor like a vampire, nor scoffs at the agony of the sorely beset, nor makes a crooked path of the path of justice. Awaken and prepare the will of our children towards all that is honorable, judged by proper standards, to all that is sincere and firm of purpose, clear judgement, clear procedure, honesty in act and deed, love for the fellow man and respect for God; this is what you must teach to your children. And, seeing that life is full of thorns and thistles, you must fortify their minds against any stroke of adversity and accustom them to danger. The people cannot expect honor nor prosperity so long as they will educate their children in a wrong way, so long as the woman who guides the child in his steps is slavish and ignorant. No good water comes from a turbid, bitter spring; no savory fruit comes from acrid seed.

The duties that woman has performed in order to deliver the people from suffering are of no little importance, but be they may, they will not be beyond the strength and stamina of the Filipino people. The power and good judgment of the woman of the Philippines are well known, and it is because of this that she has been hoodwinked, and tied, and rendered pusillanimous; and now her enslavers rest at ease, because so long as they can keep the Filipina mother a slave, so long they will be able to make slaves of her children. The cause of the backwardness of Asia lies in the fact that there the women are ignorant, are slaves, while Europe and America are powerful because there the women are free and well educated and endowed with lucid intellect and string will.

We know that you lack instructive books; we know that nothing is added to your intellect, day by day, save that which is intended to dim its natural brightness; all this we know, hence our desire to bring you the light that illuminates your equals here in Europe. If that which I tell you does not provoke your anger, and if you will pay a little attention to it then, however dense the mist may that befogs our people, I will make the utmost efforts to have it dissipated by the bright rays of the sun, which will light, though they may be dimmed. We shall not feel any fatigue if you help us: God, too, will help to scatter the mist, because he is the God of truth; He will restore to its pristine condition the fame of the Filipina in whom we now miss only a criterion of her own, because good qualities she has enough and to spare. This is our dream; this is the desire we cherish in our hearts; to restore the honor of a woman, who is half of our heart, our companion in the joys and tribulations of life. If she is a maiden, young man should love her not only because of her beauty and her amiable character, but also on account of her fortitude of mind and loftiness of purpose. Which quicken and elevate the feeble and timid and ward off all vain thoughts. Let the maiden be the pride of her country and command respect, because it is a common practice on the part of the Spaniards and friars here who have returned from the Islands to speak of the Filipina as complaisant and ignorant, as if it should be thrown into the same class because of the missteps of a few, and as if women of weak character did not exist in other lands. As to purity what could the Filipina not hold up to others!

Nevertheless, the returning Spaniards and friars, talkative and fond of gossip, can hardly find time enough to brag and bawl, amidst guffaws and insulting remarks, that a certain women was thus; that she behave thus at the convent and conducted herself thus with the Spaniards who on the occasion was her guest, and other things that set your teeth on edge when you think of them which, in the majority of cases, were faults due to candor, excessive kindness, meekness or perhaps ignorance and were all the work of the defamer him self. There is a Spaniard now in high office, who has sat at our table and enjoy our hospitality in his wanderings through the Philippines and who upon his return to Spain, rushed worth with into-print and related that on one occasion in Pampanga he demanded hospitality and ate, and slept at the house and the lady of the house conducted herself in such and such a manner with him; this is how he repaid the lady for her supreme hospitality! Similar insinuation are made to the friars to the chance visitor from Spain concerning their very obedient confesandas, hand-kissers, etc., accompanied by smiles and very significant wingkings of the eyes. In a book published by D. Sinibaldo de Mas and in other friar sketches sin are related of which women accused themselves of the confessional and of which the friar made no secret in talking to their Spanish visitor seasoning them, at the best, with idiotic and shameless tales not worthy of credence. I cannot repeat here the shameless stories that a friar told Mas and to which Mas attributed no value whatever. Everytime we hear or read anything of this kind, we ask each other: Are the Spanish women all cut after the pattern of the Holy Virgin Mary and the Filipinas all reprobates? I believe that If we are to balance accounts in this delicate question, perhaps� But I must drop the subject because I am neither a confessor nor a Spanish traveler and have no business to take away anybody�s goodname. I shall let this go and speak of the duties of women instead.

A people that respect woman, like the Filipino people, must know the truth of the situation in order to be able to do what is expected of it. It seems an established fact that when a young student falls inlove, he throws everything to the dogs � knowledge, honor and money, as if a girl could not do anything but sow misfortune. The bravest youth becomes a coward when he married and the born coward becomes shameless, as if he had been waiting to get married in order to show his cowardice. The son, in order to hide his pusillanimity, remembers his mother, swallows his wrath, suffers his ears to be boxed, obeys the most foolish orders, and become an accomplice to his own dishonor. It should be remembered that where no body flees there is no pursuer; when there is no little fish, there can not be a big one. Why does the girl not require of her lover a noble and honored name, a manly heart offering protection to her weakness, and high spirit incapable of being satisfied with engendering slaves? Let her discard all fear, let her behave nobly and not deliver her youth to the weak and faint-hearted. When she is married, she must aid her husband, inspire him with courage, share his perills, refrain from causing him worry and sweeten her moments of affliction, always remembering that there is no grief that a brave heart can not bear and there is no bitterer inheritance than that of infamy and slavery. Open your children�s eyes so that they may jealousy guard their honor, love their fellowmen and their native land, and do their duty. Always impress upon them they must prefer dying with honor to living in dishonor. The women of Sparta should serve you as an example in this; I shall give some of their characteristics.

When a mother handed the shield to her son as he was marching to the battle, she said nothing to him but this: “Return with it, or on it,” which mean, come back victorious or dead, because it was customary with the routed warrior to throw away his shield, while the dead warrior was carried home on his shield. When a mother received word that that her son had been killed in battle and the army routed, she did not say a word, but expressed her thankfulness that her son returned alive and the mother put on mourning. One of the mothers who went out to meet the warriors returning to battle asked if if her three sons had been victorious or not. We have been victorious � answered the warrior. If that is so, then let us thank God, and she went to the temple.

Once upon a time a king of theirs, who had been defeated, hid in the temple, because he feared the popular wrath. The Spartans resolved to shut him up there and starve him to death. When they were blocking the door, the mother was the first to bring the stones. These things were in accordance with the custom there, and all Greece admire the Spartan woman. Of all women � a woman said jestingly � only you Spartans have power over the men. Man, the Spartan women said, was not born to live life for himself alone but for his native land. So long as this way of thinking prevailed and they had that kind of women in Sparta, none was there a woman in Sparta who ever saw a hostile army.

I do not expect to be believed simply because it is I who am saying this; there are many people who do not listen to reason, but will listen only to those who hear the cassock or have gray hair or no teeth; but while it is true that the aged should be venerated, because of their travails and experience, yet the life I have lived, consecrated to the happiness of the people, add some years, though not many of my age. I do not pretend to be looked upon as an idol or fetish and to be believed and listened to with the eyes closed, the head bowed, and the arms crossed over the breast; what I ask of all is to reflect on what I tell him, think it over and sift it carefully through the sieve of reason.

First of all. That the tyranny of some is possible only through cowardice and negligence on the part of others.

Second. What makes one contemptible is lack of dignity and object fear of him who holds one in contempt.

Third. Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so he is; a man who does not think for himself and allowed himself to be guided by the thought of other is like the beast led by a halter.

Fourth. He who loves his independence must first aid his fellowman, because he who refuses protection to others will find himself without it; the isolated rib of the buri palm is easily broken, but not so the broom made of the ribs of the palm bound together.

Fifth. If the Filipina will not change her mode of being, let her rear no more children, let her merely give birth to them. She must cease to be the mistress of the home, otherwise she will unconsciously betray husband, child native land, and all.

Sixth. All men are born equal, naked, without bonds. God did not create man to be a slave; nor did he endow him with intelligence to have him hoodwinked, or adorn him with a reason to have him deceived by others. It is not fatuous to refuse to worship one�s equal, to cultivate one�s intellect, and to make use of reason in all things. Fatuous is he who makes a god of him, who makes brutes of others, and who strives to submit to his whims all that is reasonable and just.

Seventh. Consider well that kind of religion that they are teaching you. See whether it is the will of the God or according to the teachings of Christ that the poor be succored and those who suffer alleviated. Consider what they are preaching to you, the object of the sermon, what is behind the masses, novenas, rosaries, scapularies, images, miracles, candles, belts, etc., etc.; which they daily keep before your minds; ears and eyes; jostling, shouting, and coaxing, investigate whence they came and whether they go and then compare that religion with the pure religion of Christ and see whether the pretended observance of the life of Christ does not remind of the fat mik cow or the fattened pig, which is encouraged to grow fat not through love of the animal, but not grossly mercenary motives.

Let us, therefore, reflect and consider our situation and see how we stand. May these poorly written lines aid you in your good purpose and help you to pursue the plan you have initiated. “May your profit be greater than the capital investment,” and I shall gladly accept the usual reward of all who dare the people the truth. May your desire to educate yourself be crowned with success; may you in the garden of learning gather not bitter, but choice fruit, looking well before you eat because on the surface of the globe all is deceit, and the enemy sows weeds in your seedling plot.

All this is the ardent desire of your compatriot.

JOSE RIZAL
*** Reprinted from the Jose Rizal web site, www.joserizal.ph, for the benefit of emanila.com users. For clarity, changes to the text and layout had been made to the original Jose Rizal web site publication. Posted: Dec 17, 2002, emanila*pilipino