“Mis suenos cuando apenas muchacho adolescente, Mis suenos cuando joven ya lleno de vigor, Fueron el verte un dia, joya del Mar de Oriente Secos los negros ojos, alta la tersa frente, Sin ceno, sin arrugas, sin manchas de rubor. Ensueno de mi vida, mi ardiente vivo anhelo, Salud te grita el alma que pronto va a partir! Salud! Ah, que es hermoso caer por darte vuelo, Morir por darte vida, morir bajo tu cielo, Y en tu encantada tierra la eternidad dormir.”

“My dreams when a lad, when scarcely adolescent: my dreams when a young man, now with vigor inflamed: were to behold you one day: Jewel of eastern waters: griefless the dusky eyes: lifted the upright brow: unclouded, unfurrowed, unblemished and unashamed! Enchantment of my life: my ardent avid obsession: To your health! cries the soul soon to take the last leap: To your health! O lovely: how lovely: to fall that you may rise! To perish that you may live! To die beneath your skies! And upon your enchanted ground the eternities to sleep!”

Senores Caballeros, Respected Knights of Rizal, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen:

You recognize of course that I have just recited two stanzas from our hero’s Mi Ultimo Adios. The corresponding English translation is that of national artist Nick Joaquin.

I submit these lines encapsulate the life and love of Dr. Jose Rizal.

Peerless patriot.

Everything in his life subordinated to his love of country.

The moth fatally attracted to the light.

“To sacrifice one’s life for light is worthwhile” he had said; if only to prove to succeeding generations that “(n)ot all were asleep in the night of our ancestors”.

After all, he asserted “(w)hat matters death, if one dies for what one loves, for native land, and beings held dear?”.

He had written: “My career, my life, my happiness all have been sacrificed for love of my native land”.

And explained: “I have always loved my poor motherland, and I am sure I shall always love her to the last moment even though perhaps men are unjust to me; and my future, my life, my joys, all I have, I sacrificed for my love of country”.

Such was the man we honour with today’s symposium.

One who, cuando apenas muchacho adolescente or when scarcely adolescent, already had that burning dream of righting the wrongs wrought on his people.

Perhaps he was impelled by a searing experience at age ten. On the eve of his departure for schooling in Manila, he saw his own beloved mother being brought to prison. Arriving in the city, he learned that his elder brother’s mentor and friend, Father Burgos, was garrotted together with Fathers Gomez and Zamora.

The climate of fear and suspicion, in the aftermath of the execution of the three Filipino priests, had him use in school the surname Rizal, meaning “green field” or “new pasture” from the Spanish word ricial. To comply with the gubernatorial decree to hispanize Filipino surnames, his father Francisco Mercado (mercado means “market”) chose Rizal as more apt for their farming family. His Kuya Paciano had used Mercado and was identified with Father Burgos.