“Sa aking mga Kabata”

The hearsay: In 1869, the then eight-year-old Jose Rizal wrote his first Tagalog poem.
Entitled “Sa aking mga Kabata” (“To My Fellow Children”), it soon immortalized the line
“ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika ay masahol pa sa hayop at malansang
isda” (he who loves not his own language is worse than a beast and a stinking fish).
Fact check: To this day, no manuscript linking Rizal to the poem has been identified
yet. And let’s admit it, Rizal was probably too busy playing with his dog and siblings to
even thought of making a poem mentioning the word “kalayaan” (freedom). In the first
place, Rizal was already 21 years old when he first encountered such word.
In addition to that, the poem was only published ten years after Rizal’s death,
leading historians into questioning its authenticity. Poets Herminigildo Cruz and Gabriel
Beato Francisco have since been linked to the poem but so far, the case of the lost
author remains an open mystery.

Something fishy about Rizal poem

Did Jose Rizal really write Sa Aking Mga Kabata?
Every year in August, students in the Philippines celebrate Buwan ng Wika
(Language Month) and, after 75 years of the national language, educators still find it
necessary to invoke the finger- wagging admonition against neglecting one’s
ownlanguage: Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit sa hayop at malansang isda
[One who does not love his own language is worse than a beast and a stinking fish].
Calling someone a stinking fish might sound a bit childish, but it could be forgiven
since it was supposedly a child who wrote this now-famous accusation. The line is a
slightly mangled quote from the poem Sa Aking Mga Kabata [To My Fellow Youth],
which, as any Filipino schoolteacher will tell you, was written by the national hero, Jose
Rizal, when he was only eight years old.
Even though generations of children have heard this poem hailed as an example
of Rizal’s natural genius, a few academics such as Virgilio Almario, Ambeth Ocampo,
Nilo Ocampo andothers have expressed doubts that young Pepe really wrote the poem.
We’ll hear what they had to say later.
I first read this poem many years ago when I was learning the Filipino language.
The idea that it might be a hoax never entered my mind, though I doubted that Rizal
was so young when he composed it. I thought some zealous biographer might have
concocted that part of the story, like George Washington’s cherry tree incident.
Many years later, in 2007, I wanted to use the famous “malansang isda” line in
an article, 1 but I couldn’t find the official version of the poem. There are a few different
versions, each with slight variations in some of the lines and even the title is not
consistent; sometimes kabata, sometimes kababata. It seems that there is no “official”
version or even an original manuscript to consult.
 While re-reading the poem, one word struck me like a thunderbolt: it was
kalayaan. The word, which means “freedom” and “liberty,” reminded me of a letter that
Jose Rizal wrote to his translation of Friedrich Schiller’s German.

Rizal’s manuscript
“From a historian’s point of view, documentation for this poem is sadly lacking,”
wrote Ambeth Ocampo, then-future chair of the National Historical Institute (NHI), in a
1991 newspaper article. “The manuscript,” he continued, “…is not, and never seems to
have been, extant.
This is quite significant because Rizal was very meticulous about documenting
every facet of his life. From his earliest childhood memories, recorded in his student
diaries in Manila, to his Ultimo Adios on the eve of his execution, Rizal wrote about it.
While studying in Madrid in 1882, he sent this instruction to his sister Maria in the
Philippines: I should like you to keep all my letters in Spanish that begin, Mis queridos
padres y hermanos, because in them I relate all that has happened to me. When I get
home I shall collect them and clarify them. Ambeth Ocampo said in another article in
1996. It is clear from Rizal’s letters, diaries, and other writings that he meticulously
planned both his life and death down to the last detail. Nothing was left to chance, not
even the choreography of his death.
Ocampo’s point was that Jose Rizal consciously cultivated his legacy as a hero.
Certainly this poem should have had a prominent place in that legacy, but, apparently,
Rizal was oblivious of it. If the poem was, in fact, his “earliest known revolutionary
utterance,” as Austin Coates described it, surely Rizal would have remembered it in
1889 when he described his actual reformist awakening to Mariano Ponce. He
remembered the Gomburza martyrdoms of 1872, which happened three years after the
poem was allegedly composed.
Since Rizal’s death, hundreds of his personal letters and other writings have
been published, but, apparently, he never saved a copy of this now-famous poem or
even bothered to mention it in his entire lifetime of writing. Why not? The reason is
inescapable: he knew nothing about the poem and had no connection to it, except for
what others claimed after his death.

Where did the poem come from?

The earliest documented appearance of Sa Aking Mga Kabata was in a book
published in 1906, almost ten years after Rizal‟s death. Author Hermenegildo Cruz
presented it as an example of modern naturalist Tagalog poetry in Kung Sino ang
Kumath ng“Florante” [The Person who Composed “Florante”].The poem, like the rest of
the book, was rendered using the new Tagalog spelling that Rizal himself had helped to
develop in the mid 1880s.
 If Cruz possessed an original manuscript of the poem, he apparently updated it
from the standard Tagalog orthography of the 1860s, which followed Spanish spelling
conventions and did not use certain letters that appear in this version, such as K and W.
Cruz introduced the work as “a Tagalog language poem written by the hero Jose Rizal
in 1869 when he was only about eight years old.” In a footnote, he added this about the
poem’s provenance: For this poem I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Gabriel
BeatoFrancisco. This was given to him by Mr. Saturnino Raselis, a native of Lukban,
who was a teacher (maestro) in Mahayhay in 1884. This gentleman was a very close
friend of Rizal who gave him (the teacher) a copy of this poem himself, a symbol,
apparently, of their close friendship.
Gabriel Francisco was a poet, novelist and the author of an 1899 play, Ang
Katipunan. Mr. Saturnino Raselis, however, is a bit of a mystery. So far, I have found no
mention of this “very close friend of Rizal” anywhere except in this footnote by Cruz. A
letter from Rizal’s brother-in-law, Manuel Hidalgo, reported the cholera death of a Judge
Saturnino in Calamba in 1882 but our Maestro Raselis (or Racelis) was apparently alive
and well in Majayjay in 1884. The Racelis clan of Lucban, Quezon has a web site
showing their family tree reaching back to before 1870, but nobody named Saturnino is
listed.

Another origin story

Austin Coates had a different story with even fewer details about where this
poem, or perhaps another copy of it, came from. In his 1968 biography of Jose Rizal, he
wrote, “This poem, copied from hand to hand, is said to have made a deep impression
on Tagalog poets and those few others interested whom it reached…” and in a footnote,
he added, “One of the very rare copies of this poem came many years later into the
hands of Antonio Luna, the Filipino revolutionary general … to whom it owes its
survival.”
While Coates’ book is generally considered one of the better biographies of Jose
Rizal, he did not provide extensive information about the sources of specific claims such
as this because he was writing for the general public rather than academics. He offered
nothing further about Luna’s connection to the poem, however, the part about the
popularity of the poem among Tagalog poets seems to echo what Pascual Poblete
wrote in his 1909 biography of Rizal.
The public came to recognize his skill in poetry when he was only eight years old
because of a beautiful poem that he composed, which astounded all the Tagalog poets
in the province of Laguna.

Who really wrote Sa Aking Mga Kabata?

At this point we can only speculate since Cruz was apparently the first to bring
the poem to the public attention, I would suspect that either he or one of his sources
was the true author. And since we can’t even be sure at this point if the school teacher
Saturnino Racelis ever existed, we are left with only Cruz and the
poet/playwright/novelist, Francisco. Did Francisco dupe Cruz with a phoney Rizal poem
or were they in cahoots? Did one of these men commit a fraud by passing off his own
work as Rizal’s or — as Nilo Ocampo speculated — did their unquestioning admiration
for the national hero simply lead them to attribute an anonymous poem to Rizal by
mistake? (See part 1 of this series) With only circumstantial evidence — and my
suspicions — I would place my bets on the poet, Gabriel Beato Francisco, as being the
real author of Sa Aking Mga Kabata. Next time we’ll look into some of the possible
reasons why this poem might have been attributed to Jose Rizal and why it has been so
successful.

Ambeth Ocampo: Rizal did not write Sa Aking Mga Kabata

Finally. Two years ago, I contended that Rizal never wrote Sa Aking Mga Kabata
which reeked of Tagalista fervor as well as dubious, “unRizalistic” entries in almost each
line. Early this morning, no less than the country‟s foremost historian today, Ambeth R.
Ocampo, finally ended the issue.
Did young Rizal really write poem for children? By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine
Daily Inquirer.
In 1892, Jose Rizal began a new novel in Tagalog. He realized that in order to
reach a wider readership in his country, he had to write in his native tongue.
During this time of exile in Hong Kong, his elder brother, Paciano, had completed
a translation of the “Noli Me Tangere” from the original Spanish into Tagalog that was
corrected and finalized by Rizal.
Envisioned as a popular edition with illustrations by Juan Luna, this book was
never to be. The original manuscript translation by Paciano has since been missing.
Nevertheless, Rizal completed a chapter of his satirical Tagalog novel and gave it the
title “Makamisa” (After the Mass), but unfortunately he did not have the energy to
complete it. He stopped writing in Tagalog and began anew in Spanish. The drafts of
this work were first published in 1993 in my book “Makamisa: The Search for Rizal’s
Third Novel.”
Rizal spoke and wrote in Tagalog fluently, but he was unable to write a whole
novel in his other tongue. This is quite surprising for is he not, like Manuel L. Quezon,
inextricably linked to the adoption of Tagalog as the national language of the
Philippines? Most quoted line isn’t the most quoted line from Rizal’s many poems that
from “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” that goes, “Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling
wika/masahol pa sa hayop at malansang isda.” (He who loves not his own language/is
worse than a beast and a stinking fish.) Did Rizal write this poem at 8 years old? Did
Rizal write this poem at all? No original manuscript, in Rizal’s own hand, exists for “Sa
Aking Mga Kabata,” traditionally believed to be his first poem.
 Rizal had 35 years to publish or assert authorship. He did not. The poem was
published posthumously, a decade after his execution, as an appendix to “Kun sino ang
kumatha ng, Florante: Kasaysayan ng Buhay ni Francisco Baltazar‟ at pag-uulat nang
kanyang karununga’t kadakilaan” (Manila: Libreria Manila-Filatelico, 1906.) by the poet
Herminigildo Cruz.

Sa Aking Mga Kabata

Kapagka ang bayay sadyang umiibig
sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit.
sanlang kalayaan nasa ring masapit
katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.

Pagka’t ang salita’y isang kahatulan

sa bayan, sa nayo’t mga kaharian.
at ang isang tao’y katulad kabagay
ng alinmang likha noong kalayaan.

Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita

mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda,
kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
na tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala.

Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin,

sa Ingles, Kastila, at salitang angel,
sapagkat ang Poong maalam tumingin
ang siyang nag-gawad, nagbigay sa atin.

Ang salita nati’y tulad din sa iba

na may alfabeto at sariling letra
na kaya nawala’y dinatnan ng sigwa
 ang lunday sa lawa noong dakong una.

Provenance
Tracing the provenance of the poem to its source, Cruz claims to have received
the poem from his friend, the poet Gabriel Beato Francisco, who got it from a certain
Saturnino Raselis of Lukban, a bosom friend of Rizal and teacher in Majayjay, Laguna,
in 1884. Raselis is alleged to have received a copy of this poem from Rizal himself, a
token of their close friendship.
Unfortunately, Raselis’ name does not appear in Rizal’s voluminous
correspondence, diaries or writings. When Jaime C. de Veyra established the definitive
canon of Rizal’s poetry in 1946 with a compilation published in the series “Documentos
de la Biblioteca Nacional de Filipinas” (Documents from the National Library of the
Philippines) “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” was not published in the original Tagalog but in a
free Spanish translation of the Tagalog by Epifanio de los Santos as “A mis compañeros
de niñez.” Tagalog, according to the 8-year-old Rizal, has its own alphabet and letters. It
goes back to pre- Spanish times. The precocious child even compared Tagalog with
Latin, English, Spanish and “the language of angels,” whatever that is.

Second look
Filipinos raised on textbook history that depicts Rizal as a superhuman genius
should give the poem a second look and ask, “Was it really written by an 8-year-old
from Calamba just learning to read at his mother’s knee?”
The poem could not have been written in 1869 when Rizal was eight based on
the use of the letter “k,” which was a reform in Tagalog orthography proposed by the
mature Rizal.
In Rizal’s childhood they spelled words with a “c” rather than “k.” Further, the
word “kalayaan” (freedom) is used twice. First, in the third line of the first stanza, there
is mention of sanlang kalayaan (pawned freedom).
Was Rizal aware of the colonial condition at this young age? Kalayaan appears
the second time in the last line of the second stanza.

Encounter with ‘kalayaan’

These two references ring a bell because kalayaan as we know it today was not
widely used in the 19th century. As a matter of fact, Rizal encountered the word first in
the summer of 1882 when he was 21 years old!
In a letter to his brother, Paciano, dated Oct. 12, 1886, Rizal related difficulties
encountered with Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell that he was translating from the original
German into Tagalog: I’m sending you at last the translation of Wilhelm Tell by Schiller
which was delayed one week, being unable to finish it sooner on account of my
numerous tasks. I’m aware of its many mistakes that I entrust to you and my brothers-
in-law to correct. It is almost a literal translation.
I’m forgetting Tagalog a little, as I don’t speak it with anyone. I lacked many
words, for example, for the word Freiheit or liberty, one cannot use the Tagalog word
kaligtasan of course because this means that he was formerly in some prison, slavery,
etc. I encountered in the translation of Amor Patrio the noun malayá, kalayahan that
Marcelo del Pilar used. In the only Tagalog book I have, Florante [at Laura], I don’t find
an equivalent noun.”

‘El Amor Patrio’

“El Amor Patrio” was the first article Rizal wrote on Spanish soil. He wrote it in
Barcelona in the summer of 1882 and it was published in Diariong Tagalog in August
1882 both in Spanish and a Tagalog translation, “Pag-ibig Sa Tinubuang Lupa,” by
Marcelo H. del Pilar. If, as Rizal admitted, he did not encounter the word kalayaan until
he was studying in Europe at 21 years old, how can he have used it at 8 years old in
Calamba? In light of its complicated provenance and the anachronistic use of the word
kalayaan a shadow of doubt has been cast on “Sa Aking Mga Kabata.”
There are only two poems attributed to Rizal in Tagalog, the other is “Kundiman.”
Both are questionable. All his documented poems are in Spanish.
If Rizal did not compose “Sa Aking Mga Kabata,” who did?
Our two suspects are the poets Herminigildo Cruz or Gabriel Beato Francisco.
Identifying the true author of “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” is important because
millions of Filipino children are miseducated each year during Buwan ng Wika when
they are told that Rizal cWomposed a poem on his mother tongue when he was 8. I’ll
the real author of “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” please stand up for he who does not love his
own poem/is worse than a beast and a stinking fish (“ang di magmahal sa sariling
tula/mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda”).

Historian’s Point of View

To historian Ambeth Ocampo, also the current go-to person for all things Rizal,
state at the UP Baguio last Wednesday that he was quite certain the line and the poem
“Sa Aking mga Kababata” were not written by Rizal. Ocampo cited a couple of items to
support his take.
First, said he, there is language in the poem that does not belong in 1869, the
(now) supposed year that the poem was supposedly written. Ocampo in particular cited
the word “himpapawid,” used in the poem, calling it a 20th century term, “langit” being
its 1869 version.
 Second, Ocampo pointed out that there is no extant anuscript of said poem,
when other writings of Rizal either have extant manuscripts or were once manuscripts
whose existence can stand the test of verification.
Ocampo also points out that “Sa Aking mga Kababata” was published only in
1902 and cannot be traced back to Rizal, i.e., there is no evidence that said poem was
actually part of his body of work. That said works were actually already accounted for
even during Rizal’s lifetime, as Ocampo points out, lends credence to the theory that the
poem was actually not written by Rizal.
XIAO CHUA Opo, alam ko po‟ng masakit tanggapin ngunit ilang dekada po‟ng
naniwala sa kasinungalingan ang mga kabataan sa bagay na iyan. Maging ako po
nasaktan. Biruin mo, 12 years na akong nagaaral, sa 12 years na yun, since Prep ang
aHlam ko si Rizal ang nagsulat ng Tulang iyan. ardcore! [term courtesy of Prof. Xiao
Chua]
So eto na nga, may mga bagay akong babanggitin at pilit ko‟ng ipapaliwanag sa
abot ng makakaya ng neuron(s) ko.
Una, dapat muna nating isipin na ang “Sa Aking mga Kabata” ay lumabas sa
Madla sa isang libro ng isang manunulat na Pilipino matapos ang ilang mga taon buhat
ng pumanaw si Rizal. WALA po sa anumang dokumento ang DIREKTANG nakaugnay
sa pangalan ni Jose Rizal- Walang manuscript. Gayundin, sa hinaba-haba ng buhay ni
Jose Rizal hindi po nya ito naipublish at hindi nya po ito nabanggit sa kahit sinumang
kaibigan, kamaganak at hindi manlang itolumabas sa kahit anong diary and
correspondence nya.
Pangalawa, sa kanlungan lamang ng kanyang ina sya natuto magbasa at
magsulat. At sa edad na 8 y/o di umano nya ito isinulat. Sa edad na ito, kahina-hinala
na alam na nya ang mga konsepto ng pagkakagapos o kolonyalismo (nabanggit nya
ang kalayaan).
Pangatlo, wala pang salitang KALAYAAN noong 19th Century sa Pilipinas. Ni-
hindi rin alam ni Rizal ang salitang KALAYAAN. Ito lamang ay nalaman nya noong sya
ay nagaaral na sa Europa. Sa katunayan, sa isang sulat nya sa kanyang kapatid na si
Paciano, nabanggit nya na ang libro‟ng (Wilhem Tell ni Schiller) kanyang isinasalin sa
wikang tagalog ay hindi nya lubusang maperpekto. Sinabi pa nya na literal translation
ang ginawa nya. Ang salitang LIBERTY ay isinalin nya sa tagalog na salitang LIGTAS.
Pangapat, ang paggamit sa letrang “K” ay hindi prominente sa panahong yaon.
Sa unang publikasyon nito (orihinal na kopya) ang lahat ng pagbabay-bay ay naaayon
na sa “revised” Filipino language.