GED 103 - LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL
MODULE 1
2nd Semester | A.Y. 2021- 2022
Instructor: Mr. Jeffrey Tiquio
Who Made Rizal Our Foremost
National Hero and Why?
Dr. Jose Rizal Mercado y Alonso or Jose
Rizal (1861 - 1896)
 He is a known personality that has
been mention in the annals of
Philippine history
 National Hero of the Philippines
 He is not only admired for
possessing intellectual brilliance,
but also for taking a stand and
resisting the Spanish colonial
government.
 His birth and death is remembered
and recognized by the Filipino
people.
 His name can be found in almost all
corners of the Philippines. Such as:
 Roads
 Schools
 Province
 His image can be found in peso bills
and coins.
 Monuments are erected in his name
(Rizal Park in Manila)
 These are manifestations of the
country’s reverence accorded to
Jose Rizal as a National Hero.
Who is the Filipino writer whose teachings
have been frequently invoked & quoted by
authors on almost all occasions?
 None but Rizal
And Why is this so?
 Because a biographer Rafael Palma
said, “The doctrines of Rizal are for
all epochs. They are as valid today
as they were yesterday…” and for
the future.
All about Rizal
 He was a unique man of oustanding
talents.
 He is patriot
 Poet
 Novelist
 Educator
 He was a man of conviction
 His love for his country and his
observations of Spanish rule
impassioned him to speak out about
injustice.
 He was a peaceful man and used
the power of the pen to express
himself.
Experiences of Rizal
 There are Filipinos believing that
Rizal’s becoming the national hero
was the result of American
sponsorship wherein fact, the
American government especially
Gov. W. H. Taft only “guided” the
Filipino people to choose Rizal.
 The American rationale was based
on Rizal’s peaceful propaganda and
siplomatic approaches in attaining
Philippine freedom and
independence.
 This is shown by his pacifism where
he fought the Spanish tyranny
 through a propaganda battles by
means of using his pen in critiquin
and exposing the defects of Spanish
governance.
 Alarmed over the threat posed by
the two novels of Rizal, angry
Spanish officials pushed for Rizal’s
arrest and exile in Dapitan.
 Despite that, Rizal promised the
Spanish governor that he would not
attempt an escape, which, in that
remote part of the country, would
have been relatively easy.
 He was spontaneously
acknowledged not only by his own
people, but also the elite of other
lands who intimately knew his
patriotic labors.
 Also, immediately after his
execution, his own people had justly
acclaimed him as their foremost
hero & martyr.
Dr. Frank C. Laubach
 An American biographer of Rizal
 He spoke of the her’s courage and I
quote
 “His consuming life purpose was
the secret of his moral courage.
Physical courage, it is true, was one
of his inherited traits. But that high
courage to die loving his murderers
Why is Rizal our foremost national hero?
 He was a prominenth figure in the
propaganda campaign and took
admirable part in the movement and
also, his writing “Noli Me Tangere”
that no other writings or author that
aroused up to this day acrimonious
debates.
About the Novel of Jose Rizal
 As exemplified by his two great
novels which no other literary works
could surprass, he proved that the
pen is mightier than the sword.
 Choosing a single work of a Filipino
Author that contributed
tremendously to the formation of
Filipino nationality, we shall have no
hesitation in choosing Rizal’s Noli
Me Tangere because none of the
other books had evoked such
favorable & unfavorable comments
from friends & foes alikes as did
Rizal’s Noli.
 Blumentritt, after reading Rizal’s
Noli, wrote and congratulated its
author, saying among other things:
“Your work, as we Germans say,
has been written with the blood of
the heart… Your work has exceeded
my hopes and I considered myself
happy to have been honored by
your friendship”.
 If Rizal’s friends and admirers
praised with justifiable pride the
Noli and its author, his enemies
were equally loud in condemning
the same.
 Rizal’s novel was condemed by a
faculty committee of a Manila
University (UST).
 The committee said that it found the
book “heretical, and scandalous to
the religious order and unpatriotic
to the public order, libelous to the
government of Spain.”
 During the congressional hearings
on the Rizal (Noli-Fili) in 1956, the
proponents and opponents of the
bill engaged themselves in a bitter
drawn-out debate that finally
resulted in the enactment of a
compromise measure, now known
as RA 1425
  It is comforting to learn however,
that about 13 year later, Cong.
Henry allen Cooper of Wisconsin
delivered an eulogy of Rizal and
even recited the marty’s Ultimo
Pensamiento on the floor of the U.S.
House of Representatives in order
to prove the capacity of the Filipinos
for self government.
 The result of this appeal was the
approval of what is popularly known
as the Philippine Bill of 1902
Why did Rizal, become the greatest Filipino
hero?
 As stated by Esteban in his articla,
no other Filipino that has yet been
born who could or surprass Dr.
Jose Rizal as “a person of
distinguished valor or enterprise in
danger, or fortitude of suffering.
 We can all agree about the fact that
not one citizen of the country had
yet to show the same
characteristics, or had done the
bravest of acts for his country as Dr.
Jose Rizal.
 His ideas exposed the social malady
affecting the country and redeemed
his people from their miserable
conditions.
 He instilled native pride and dignity
to Filipinos and the willingness to
sacrifice for motherland through his
economic and political ideas which
are vividly inscribed in his novels.
 He preferred dying for the country
than to live his life with his
principles ruined.
 His influence to the Filipino race
through his intellect is as well not a
sufficient basis to say that he
deserves the title but his complete
self - denial.
 Although gifted with immeasure
talents, he completely abandoned
his personal interests in order to
think only of those of his country.
 He chose to live far from his family,
forego his personal affections and
profession for an ideal that he ought
for.
 He could have setteled stable being
endowed with riches, valor and
intellect, but he wished to fight for
his country utilizing these natural
endowments.
 He then died in front of the Spanish
and Filipino crowds by a firing
squad on December 30, 1896 due to
a false accusation of instigating
Philippine revolution and because
he was the most dangerous enemy
of the reactionaries and the tyrants.
 Thus, his charisma for the elite and
intellectuals are proven strong.
Why is Rizal the greatest Filipino hero that
ever lived?
 Rizal is the greatest Filipino hero
that ever lived because he is a man
honored after death by public
worship, because of his exceptional
service to mankind especially to his
countrymen.
 Due to Rizal’s ability and love for
our homeland, he stood bold to
battle for our opportunity despite
the fact that his life was on the line
so as to spare his nation for
enduring the Spaniards.
 That is the motivation behind why
Dr. Jose Rizal turned into our
national legend.
Leadership of Rizal
 Even before the outbreak of the
revolution against Spain in 1896,
many instances can be cited to
prove that his country and abroad
recognized Rizal’s leadership.
 He was elected by the Filipinos
in Barcelona and Madrid as
honorary pres. of la
Solidaridad.
 He became chief of the Indios
Bravos
 Rizal was again unanimously
chosen Responsible (chief) of
the Spanish - Filipino
Association.
 He was also the founder of La
Liga Filipina in Manila on July 3,
1892
 He became honorary
President of Katipunan
After execution of Rizal
 A year after Rizal’s execution, Gen.
Emilio Aguinaldo and the other
revolutionary chiefs exiled to Hong
Kong held a commemorative
program there on December 29,
1897 on the occasion of the 1st
anniversary of the hero’s execution
and martyrdom.
 President Aguinaldo issued the 1st
official proclamation making
December 30, 1898 as “Rizal Day”.
 The same proclamation ordered the
hoisting the Filipino flags at half-
mast “from 12 noon on December
30 1898” and the closing of “all
offices of the government” during
the whole day of December 30.
 Many paid tribute for Rizal’s
greatness as to honor his death.
 However, his death did not finish his
mission. It has just begun.
 For his death inspired many others
and became the rallying force of the
revolutionary leaders who were
also willing to sacrifice and die for
the country, if necessary.
Act No. 37
 The Taft Commission, which
functioned as the US colonial
administration in the Philippines
from 1900 to 1904, passed Act No.
37, creating the Province of Rizal
out of the military district of Morong
in honor of Dr. Rizal.
 The act did not formally declare
Rizal a national hero, nor proclaim a
national holiday in his honor.
 However, while Taft Commission
chose Rizal out of several great
Filipinos as the No. 1 hero of his
people, still we can say that what
the commission did was merely to
confirm a sort of what has already
been decided, and that was Jose
Rizal had already been acclaimed
by his countrymen and the scientific
world as the foremost hero and
martyr of the land of his birth.

Rizal is not only the most prominent man of
his own people but the greatest man the
malayan race has produced
 Rizal wrote the historically famous
novels “Noli Me Tangere” and El
Filibusterismo” that spoke againts
the tyranny of the Spanish regime in
our country.
Rizal versus Bonifacio as a National Hero
 After his death, a lot of books from
different parts of the world have
been written about him.
 But there have been constant
debates from generation to
generation that Andres Bonifacio is
more deserving to be called our
national hero than Rizal.
 Many would claim tha unlike Rizal,
Andres Bonifacion is a true
revolutionary.
 While Rizal wanted change through
peaceful means, Bonifacio believed
change is only possible through
violence and it was through war that
the Spanish gave up.
 Thus, leading to a conclusion that
Bonifacio should be the national
hero, and Rizal should only be
credited for helping.
 Most of the world Heroes was
elevated as such because of their
war exploits. Rizal never did it.
 Rafael Palma has very well stated
the case of Rizal versus Bonifacio in
these words:
 It should be a source of pride
and satisfaction to the Filipinos
to have among their national
heroes one such excellent
qualities and merits may be
equaled but not surprassed by
any other man.
 It is true that in our case the
sword of Bonifacio was after
all needed to shake off the
yoke of a foreign power; but
the revolution prepared by
Bonifacio was only the effect,
the consequence of the
spiritual redemption wrought
by the pen of Rizal.
 Napoleon, who was a great
conqueror and ruler, said;
 “There are only two powers in
the world; the sword and the
pen; and in the end the former
is always conquered by the
latter”
Who made Rizal the foremost hero of the
Philippines?
 His struggles, sacrifices and
notable contributions to today’s
independence were held
accountable for making Dr. Jose
Rizal our national hero.
 Of course, Rizal himself, his own
people, and the few influentual
foreigners all together contributed
to make him the greatest hero and
martyr of his people.
 Jose Rizal, considered as the
greatest among the Filipino heroes,
was not explicitly proclaimed as a
national hero.
 His exceptional dedication and
conviction to his life’s purpose are
 beyond the realm of imagination
knowing that he sacrificed his own
life, not having the assurance that
his sacrifices will be worth it.
 If he hadn’t, and among other note-
worthy heroes of our history fought
for our well-deserved freedom,
maybe we’ll still be in the hands of
our unjust captors.
 His “excellent qualities and merits
(Rafael Palma) made him Our
Foremost National Hero.
 Jose did many good deeds and tried
to accomplish his goals; he wanted
to free his country.
 He was well-known enough to even
have his own special holiday which
celebrates the anniversary of his
death.
 Few people have had a leader who
is entirely gave of himself as he did,
and who asked so little for himself in
return.
 He is a hero.
Now, therefore
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1425
AN ACT TO INCLUDE IN THE
CURRICULAR OF ALL PUBLIC
AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS,
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
COURSES ON THE LIFE, WORKS
AND WRITINGS OF RIZAL,
PARTICULARLY HIS NOVELS
NOLI ME TANGERE AND EL
FILIBUSTERISMO,
AUTHORIZING THE PRINTING
AND DISTRIBUTION THEREOF,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
WHEREAS
 Today, more than any other period
of our history, there is a need for a
re-dedication to the ideals of
freedom and nationalism for which
our heroes lived and died;
 It is meet that in honoring them,
particulary the national hero and
patriot, Jose Rizal, we remember
with special fondnes and devotion
their lives and works that have
shaped the national character.
 The life, works and writing of Jose
Rizal, particularly his novels Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, are
constant and inspiring source of
patriotism with which the minds of
the youth, especially during their
formative and decisive years in
school, should be suffused.
 All educational institutions are
under the supervision of and
subject to regulation by the State
and all schools are enjoined to
develop moral character, personal
discipline, civic conscience and to
teach the duties of citizenship;
SECTION 1
 Courses on the life, works and
writings of Jose Rizal, particularly
his novel Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, shall be included in
the curricular of all schools,
colleges and universities, public or
private.
 Provided that in the collegiate
courses, the original or
unexpurgated editions of the Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo or
their English translation shall be
used as basic texts.
 The Board of National Education is
hereby authorized and directed to
adopt forthwith measures to
impliment and carry out the
provisions of this Section, including
the writing and printing of
appropriate primers, readers and
textbooks.
 The Board shall, within sixty (60)
days from the effectivity of this Act,
promulgate rules and regulations,
including those of a disciplinary
nature, to carry out and enforece
the provisions of this Act.
 The Board shall promulgate rules
and regulations providing for the
exemption of students for reasons
of religious belief stated in a sworn
written statement, from the
requirement of the provision; but
not from taking the course provided
for in the first part of said
paragraph.
 Said rules and regulations shall take
effect thirty (30) days after their
publication in the Official Gazette.
SECTION 2
 It shall be obligatory on all schools
and colleges and universities to
keep in their libraries and adequate
number of copies of the original and
unexpuraged editions of the Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as
well as of Rizal’s other works and
biography.
 The said unexpurgated editions of
the Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo or their translations
in English as well as other writings
of Rizal shall be included in the list
of approved books required reading
in all public or private schools,
colleges and universities.
 The Board of National Education
shall determine the adequacy of the
number of books depending upon
the enrollment of the school,
college and university.
SECTION 3
 The Board of National Education
shall cause the translation of the
Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, as well as other
writings of Jose Rizal into English,
Tagalog and the principal
Philippiine dialects; cause them to
be printed in cheap, popular
editions; and cause them to be
distributed, free of charge, to
persons and desiring to read them,
through the Purok organizations
and Barrio Councils throughout the
country.
SECTION 4
 Nothing in this Act shall be
construed as amendment or
 repealing section nine hundred
twenty-seven of the Administrative
Code, prohibiting the discussion of
religions doctrines by public school
teachers and other person engaged
in any public school.

SECTION 5

 The sum of three hundred thoused

pesos is hereby authorized to be
appropriated out of any fund not
otherwise approriated in the
National Treasury to carry out the
purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6

 This Act shall take effect upon its

approval.

Approved; June 12, 1956

Published in the Official Gazette