Dr.

Jose Rizal: National Hero

Heroes are people who have gained enormous identity among others. They are role
models, well-respected, nationalistic and have contributed to society causing national
unity resulting to something really big like freedom.

“Why Jose Rizal Became the Philippine National Hero?”

The following are the criteria for being a National Hero as set by the Philippine National
Heroes Committee in 1993-1995:
1. Heroes are those who have a concept of nation and thereafter aspire and
struggle for the nation’s freedom.
2. Heroes are those who define and contribute to a system or life of freedom and
order for a nation.
3. A hero is part of the people’s expression.
4. A hero thinks of the future, especially the future generations.
5. The choice of a hero involves not only the recounting of an episode or events in
history but of the entire process that made this particular person a hero.

It is said that one of the reasons why Rizal was chosen to be the national hero is
because Rizal has a concept about education. He said that Filipinos need education
and knowledge in order to be free. This idea was used by the Americans on their
reforms to convince the people and to promote this concept of Rizal. On the other hand,
they saw Andres Bonifacio, known for his dignity in obtaining liberty by means of
weapons. For the Americans, using this concept of Bonifacio is like wrecking their own
objective of convincing Filipinos not to use deadly weapons and rebel against them.

Pen is mightier than the sword as what others and we Filipinos believed. The Philippine
revolution led by Andres Bonifacio was fueled by the writings of Jose Rizal, the Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which made a more lasting impression.

Rizal believes that we must love our mother nation not just because it is a must but also
because all our joy, bravery and strength are all in our country or nation. Jose Rizal led
our country to the way of victory through the character that he used in his novels.
Kabesang Tales who wants to have his own land, Sisa who is poor and because of her
status in the society the Spaniards chose to let him suffer, Ibarra and Pilosopong Tasyo
who have the same objective. The objective is to help the nation no matter how hard it
is. All of the characters involved in Rizal’s novels are inspiring and can light up the
patriotism in the hearts of Filipinos. Rizal also believed that only an army that was well
prepared and had enough arms would ensure victory.

Jose Rizal is long accepted as a hero of our country. We can’t deny his dedication to his
works just to obtain change in the society. Rizal’s family is rich and he makes a lot of
money because of his profession. We cannot deny that he can just leave the problem in
the society and just live peacefully with his wealth. But he chooses to fight against the
Spaniards Empire by means of his works even if it means to be killed.