Rizal, Philippine Revolution and the Youth

One informal “Kapihan” I recently had with old and new friends;  still carrying Rizal’s 150th birthday celebration hangover, some were interested in learning my opinion about Jose Rizal and the Philippine Revolution.

No doubt that Pepe is a polymath. Name a career during his time and some even these days --- he was at it but he was not a lawyer. I really am impressed with his genius. Learning 22 languages alone is not peanuts. Not to be overlooked is the fact that Rizal was good-looking. If alive today, most Filipinos don’t care to appreciate his talents. Rizal could be fluent in English today but who can easily understand his ideas on reform and good governance if his tone is philosophically academic citing what other countries and people have done in the past to improve their governments and societies?

Corrupt officials in the government and military establishments would not even care to listen to a man who frowns at vices and a constant advocate of nationalism. He could be a walking encyclopedia in the age of technology and globalization. The fact that the quality of education has dramatically deteriorated and some priorities have shifted from good to worse these can also drive most of us scratching our head with dropping jaws if Rizal takes the podium even when he speaks in Tagalog delivering his reform and nationalism  gospel for the 21st century Philippines.

What appeals to the machismo culture is his love life. Almost everywhere Pepe traveled, he was able to pick an "apple" for his eyes.

Jose Rizal is my man but not my personal national hero. I acknowledge the fact that his Noli and Fili shook the slumbering and oppressed Filipino people with magnitude 6 to rise up and assert their freedom by taking a stand to finally say debemos ser libre. (We must be free.)

Since Rizal is a pacifist long before Gandhi, Marin Luther King, Jr and Ninoy Aquino were born, I cannot figure out how Filipinos would be liberated from the chain of Spanish oppression if armed revolution is not part of the plan. I square with him that Filipinos, ill-equipped and poorly trained should not face a formidable opponent in the battlefield lest a river of Filipino blood is spilled.  There should have been viable other options on the table. Too bad, Mao Tse-Tung and Che Guevara were not Rizal's contemporaries. They could have advised him to employ guerrilla tactics.  On the other hand, although that might work, the oppressed and dehumanized for three centuries can no longer defer waiting for the sunrise of freedom and liberty.

Now enters my personal national hero, Andres Bonifacio. He was an orphan poor boy selling fans and canes but a self-made man.  Gat Andres bravely went to the battlefield leading his men without retreat in his mind till the Spanish rule crumbles. Unfazed with the more advanced weaponry of the enemy, Bonifacio and his gallant men armed themselves with bamboo spear, bolo and a rifle then went to battle to free a shackled nation and end centuries of nightmares, wails and bitter tears..

At this point, imagine an unfolding movie battle scene when some Katipuneros fall one by one but still a small regiment of fighters still brave the rain of bullets risking their lives. They knew they were underdog but Gat Andres thought when will Spanish abuses and oppression end if no one starts the end? Kung walang kikilos, sino'ng kikilos?  Kundi ngayon, kailan pa?  In an intense and realistic scene like that, it would not be bad if movie goers do a standing ovation clapping their hands and raising their fist revering the valor and determination of our ancestors to give us a better life.  In war movies  we  sometimes turn emotional watching gross scenes like the footages of Baler.

Did our heroes die in vain? Did they shed their blood for this country and for us today for nothing? Rizal, Bonifacio, Mabini and other illustrious heroes of the past including Melchora Aquino who did a menial job feeding and housing the Katipuneros did not foresee the Philippines we have today. In all revolutions, peaceful or bloody, a better result is expected thereafter just like the French, Russian, American and Chinese Revolutions that started their gallop as a world or economic power. Well, EDSA-I failed us (Or, did we fail EDSA-I?) but thanks for the democracy and freedom it restored. 

With strong spirit believing that positive change is still possible among us as a people; Rizal, accurate in exhorting the youth as “fair hope of my Fatherland” must be revisited.  Unfortunately, the youth today, who want to be educated, have a job and a future good family are helpless in their quest.  Tuition fees are skyrocketing as if education is a privilege and not a right. And sometimes it is true that “it is not what you know but whom you know” if one has to have source to feed, clothe and shelter his family.

Regrettably, the youth are more preoccupied in the lives of showbiz and sports personalities instead of the heroes'. In short, some of their priorities today are on the wrong side of the fence. How could the youth these days then be the hope of this suffering country when cloud of cynicism, apathy if not ignorance by choice epidemically attack the hope of this nation?

It’s time to seriously revisit Rizal, his writings and the venerable heroes who shed sweat, blood and tears for the country and for us.  Rizal died at a very tender age at 35 but is taller than life. He is perpetually remembered as a man of letters who loved education and loved this republic to the point of facing the firing squad in Bagumbayan.