JOSE RIZAL: AN EYE OPENER
I bet that everyone’s familiar with Jose Rizal or known in real life as Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda. He is none other than the Philippine National Hero that is why he is that famous. But, if you haven’t yet accustomed to his name, face, life and works, or anything that is reminded of him then i can say that you are not studying too well (kidding aside!!!) On the other hand, this article is best suited for you as it will guide you to at least become minded of the history as it will tackle how Rizal open the mind, eyes, and the heart of every Filipinos of his generation up until to this day on.
At an early education, Jose Rizal was already introduced, it became a word of mount of every teachers up until tertiary education. It’ll haunt every student for life because history is affiliated to one’s culture, tradition, and way of living.
Jose Rizal popularly known everywhere as he tagged as the most traveled Filipino hero in the history. He went to Spain, Hong Kong, Japan, Paris, Belgium, and other places abroad that you can name on to expand his learning and of course to perform his mission.
Born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna in the Philippines, he is the seventh child in a family of eleven children of Doña Teodora Alonzo and Don Francisco Mercado. Jose Rizal and his older brother Paciano Rizal had an agreement that Jose will study Medicine Course in the University of Madrid and as well as observed the Political Situation in Spain.
This isn’t yet the end but just a beginning of his career, exploring the different fields of where he studied in. He entered at the different Universities in the Philippines and abroad like, University of Ateneo where he took the course Arts, University of Sto. Tomas taking up Philosophy and Letters, Universidad Central de Madrid wherein he is enrolled to the course of Medicine and Philosophy and Letters, and from wanting to cure his mother’s blindness, Rizal went to the University of Parish wherein he attended medical lectures regarding Ophthalmologist, and then went to University of Heidelberg.
He then mastered different languages which includes; Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Malayan, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and other dialects. He is also called a versatile genius as he is an architect, artist, businessmen, cartoonist, educator, economist, ethnologist, farmer, historian, inventor, journalist, linguist, musician, nationalist, novelist, ophthalmologist, poet, propagandist, psychologist, scientist, sculptor, sociologist, theologian, and others.
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Rizal lived in Europe for 10 years, and during those years he began writing essays and poems wherein he used his two pen names to hide his identify and those are; Laong Laan and Dimas Alang.
While in Europe, Jose Rizal became a part of the Propaganda Movement, connecting with other Filipinos who wanted reform. He then finished his first book which is the Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not). A piece that detailed the dark aspects of Spain’s colonial rule in the Philippines, with particular focus on the role of the Catholic friars. Noli Me Tangere became the main ingredient to cook the greatest immorality of the Spaniards that later on served to the Filipinos to open their eyes and mind which triggered them to strike on their own way.
But then again, antagonist won’t let the protagonist to pave its way so the book of Rizal was banned in the Philippines, though copies were smuggled in. Because of this novel, Rizal’s return to the Philippines in 1887 was cut short when he was targeted by the police.
Rizal then returned to Europe and continued to write, releasing his follow-up novel, the El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) in 1891, it continues the Noli’s criticisms of the abuses and corruption perpetrated by the Spanish government. This becomes the cue for the Government to move their feet to stop Rizal from spreading the real tea.
He also published articles in La Solidaridad, a paper aligned with the Propaganda Movement. The reforms Rizal advocated for did not include independence — he called for equal treatment of Filipinos, limiting the power of Spanish friars and representation for the Philippines in the Spanish Cortes (Spain’s parliament).
Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892, feeling the need to be in the country to effect change. Although the reform society he founded, the Liga Filipino (Philippine League), supported non-violent action, Rizal was still exiled to Dapitan, on the island of Mindanao. During the four years Rizal was in exile, he practiced medicine and took on students.
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In 1895, Rizal asked for permission to travel to Cuba as an army doctor. His request was approved, but in August 1896, Katipunan, a nationalist Filipino society founded by Andres Bonifacio, revolted. Though he had no ties to the group and disapproved of its violent methods, Rizal was arrested shortly thereafter.
After a show trial, Rizal was convicted of sedition and sentenced to death by firing squad. Rizal's public execution was carried out in Manila on December 30, 1896, when he was 35 years old. His execution created more opposition to Spanish rule.
Spain's control of the Philippines ended in 1898, though the country did not gain lasting independence until after World War II. Rizal remains a nationalist icon in the Philippines for helping the country take its first steps toward independence.
Months, years, and even century had passed but the bravery, brilliance, care and the love of Jose Rizal for his country and countrymen will never vanish. No one dictates him of what he did but himself and that’s how he become the National Hero.
Even if he dies early, his life and works, legacy and the ones that he fought for will be inflated for life unto the next generation.
He who fights for his country will live longer to the hearts and minds of his Filipino people.
