“Dr.

Jose Protasio Rizal on World Affairs, National

Security, Survival and International Politics and Foreign
Policy, His Banishment to Dapitan and His thoughts on
Development, Environmental Protection and the Filipinos as
a People and as a Nation”
http://pcfr.weebly.com/prof-jose-david-lapuz/the-horizon-of-the-19th-century-as-backdrop-to-
rizals-internationalism

“Dr. Jose Protasio Rizal on World Affairs, National Security, Survival and
International Politics and Foreign Policy, His Banishment to Dapitan and His thoughts
on Development, Environmental Protection and the Filipinos as a People and as a
Nation”

By Jose David Lapuz, Knight Grand Cross of Rizal(KGCR),the highest, the greatest
and the most distinguished rank within the gift of the Knights of Rizal, a Civic
Association created by an Act of the Philippine Congress, whose Mission is to
disseminate and propagandize the Principles, Teachings and the Patriotism of our
National Hero.

Catedractico dela Vida, escritos y las Obras del Dr. Jose Protasio Rizal, Rizalista de
Vanguardia, Knight Grand Cross of Rizal, International Relations Professor and
Filipino Member from Asia of The Society of Catholic Social Scientists of America
based in the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, USA and pursued post-
graduate studies in the Methodology of International Relations, University of
Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.

The Horizon of the 19th Century as Backdrop to Rizal’s Internationalism:

The mid-century decades of national emancipation and unification which completely

upset the arrangements established by the Congress of Vienna were followed by a
new era of colonial expansion in which almost all of the non-European world was
seized upon and partitioned by the Great Powers during a short span of thirty years.
The Great States of the West, old and new alike, took to the path of empire once more
and gained larger territories and more imposing dominions in a single generations
than their ancestors had won during the three centuries following the circum-
navigation of Africa and the discovery of America. The impact of European culture
upon the older civilizations of the East and upon the primary peoples of the tropics
resulted in almost every instance in the loss of political independence and in social
and economic disorganization among the societies which were the victims of
imperialism.

The course of empire-building and imperialism between 1881 and 1914 was marked
by numerous minor wars between the European stares and native African and Asiatic
communities and by one open conflict between Great

Powers: The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, in which Japan ousted Russia from
South Manchuria and the Liaotung peninsula. The minor wars are almost too
numerous to list.

I base my study of the international affairs and relations of the nineteenth century –
the century of Rizal – upon the assumption or premise that it is useful and profitable
to view international politics against its immediate background, namely, the states that
were the imperialist powers of Western civilization and the congeries and complex of
attitudes, behavior, patterns, institutions, procedures – in short, the psycho-milieu –
which they have evolved and expanded in their dealings and relations with one
another. Since international politics, such as I understand it, revolves around the
competitive struggle for power and prestige between the units of the system, it is
comprehensive and coherent only, I think, in terms of the general nature of the system
and the specific habits and patterns of actions which have grown out of the
interrelationships between its units.

The genius Dr. Jose Rizal, as he had shown in his essay, The Philippines Within a
Century (1889-1890), perceived and recognized the habits and patterns of his century,
the nineteenth, and dealt with them historically and realistically. Indeed, it is my
considered judgment that the perspicacious and discerning Rizal adumbrated or
foreshadowed, by a good number of years, the Realist Paradigm or Theory in
International Politics.

Rizal was steeped in the history of his time, and he was also conversant with world
politics which he termed “politica intercontinental.” His commentaries, were drawn
by the lessons from history. Any fruitful and beneficial attempt to understand the
nineteenth century must involve not only a knowledge of history, which Rizal
possessed, but also a knowledge of how it has been interpreted by the most important
scholars, intellectuals and leaders in the world – thanks to the many European savants
whom Rizal befriended.

In his essay, The Philippines A Century Hence (“Filipinas dentro de cien anos” first
published in La Solidaridad, Madrid, September 30, 1889 – February 1, 1890), Rizal
provided a basis for interpretation and evaluation of the period of one hundred years
starting in 1889. He examined the various actors, organizations and other social
entities that played important role in global politics. Then, Rizal dealt with the impact
on foreign policies and international relations of the various power of the 19th
Century. Furthermore, Rizal analyzed the relationships among various categories and
groupings of powers, the East versus West and the interaction of states in
organization, such as political coalitions, economic communities, etc. Finally, Rizal
took a comprehensive and extensive look at the international system as a whole, and
made predictions. Rizal’s predictions were inferences from historical facts and were
marked by scientific accuracy.

Rizal, through Basilio, said in Chapter VII of El Filibusterismo (published in 1891, in

Ghent, Belgium).

“Within a few centuries, when humanity has become redeemed and enlightened, when
there are no races, when all people are free, when there are neither tyrants nor slaves,
colonies nor mother countries, when justice rules and man is a citizen of the world,
the pursuit of science alone will remain, the word patriotism will be equivalent to
fanaticism, and he who prides himself on patriotic ideas will doubtless be isolated as
(one suffering from) a dangerous disease, as a menace to the world social order.”

To which Simoun answers in this way:

“Yes, yes… yet to reach that condition it is necessary that there be no tyrannical and
enslaved people, it is necessary, that man go about freely, that he knows how to
respect the rights of others in their own individuality, and for this there is yet much
blood to be shed, the struggle forces itself forward.”

Rizal, as a Filipino of the purest gold, understood and interpreted, in a brilliant

exegesis, the 19th century so profoundly that his intellectual and cerebral labors led to
the redemption, comprehension, and enlightenment of the Filipinos, which, today is
the greatest, the noblest, and the loftiest commitment of all. Pues bien deben saber que
lo perfecto va con Dr. Jose Rizal, El Genio (Well, give way to the genius, Dr. Jose
Rizal.)

In conclusion, we say that may this death anniversary of our National Hero, Dr. Jose
Rizal, this diamond of a man, this orgullo de su pueblo, this Filipinista de Vanguardia,
invigorate us to make a firm resolve to help bring about solidarity, unity, and a
national esprit de corps so that we can all cooperate for justice, democracy, liberty,
peace, progress, and prosperity, and rebuff any offered solutions to our national
problems which would result in a flagrant and shameless disloyalty to and sellout of
the brilliant and magnificent heritage of Dr. Jose Rizal. By his death in martyrdom,
Rizal definitively defined for us what it means to be truly a Filipino.

Dr. Rizal as a Liberal Optimist-Realist in World Politics:

Dr. Jose Rizal was largely optimistic in international affairs and relations. Humans
want to cooperate, he said, and could learn the lesson of international union and
solidarity. He believed that conflict in international relations can be decreased by
building and nourishing cooperative relationships. States are still the principal units to
create a better international system but, overtime, the role of the states will diminish
and shrink. Rizal believed that human beings can promote norms, provide vehicle for
nation – states to learn collaboration, provide protection and help for small states (as
compared with imperialist powers) to facilitate cooperation, interaction and
coordination. The key concepts of his belief in the international order included peace,
justice, democracy (in fact, many scholars on Jose Rizal regard Rizal as the “Thomas
Jefferson of Asia”), nationalism and self-determination and civil liberties and human
dignity. On the role of morality in international affairs and security, Rizal saw the
importance of having norms of moral and ethical standard of conduct for both state
and individual action and deportment.
It is astonishing and incredible to note that on the key and major concepts, norms,
processes, and ideas of international affairs and politics, Dr. Jose Rizal had already
written almost prophetically and prognostically – not only was Dr. Jose Rizal
foretelling events, he was, in truth, advocating and speaking innovatively and
creatively for a cause. He was, in fact, bringing in new methods and ideas. He was a
pioneer, breaking new ground, blazing a trail, making alterations and changes – Rizal
was, in a word, revamping, remodeling, MODERNIZING. There are many rich
examples of these concepts in international politics and security from the fecund and
fertile mind of Rizal.

Concepts, Rules, Norms and Benchmarks on International Politics Commented on by

Rizal, -

I On Peace:

“I rejoice more when I contemplate mankind in the immortal march, always

progressing, in spite of its faintings and falls, in spite of its deviations, because that
shows me its glorious purpose, it tells me that it has been created for a better end than
to be a pasture of flames, that fills me with confidence in God who will not let His
work be damned, despite the devil and all our madness.” (Miscellaneous
Correspondence, Vol. I and II Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission,
1961 p.248.)

II On Travel and World Peregrination, -

“What revolution does not take place in the ideas of one who leaves his native land for
the first time and travels through different countries x x x His judgment and ideas are
rectified, many prejudices are dispelled; he examines close at hand what before he had
judged unseen; he finds new things that suggest to him new ideas; he admires man in
his greatness as he pities him in his wretchedness, the old, blind, exclusivism is
converted into a universal and fraternal appreciation of the rest of the world. “ (Rizal’s
Prose, p. 21.)

III Tolerance, Broadmindedness, Freedom from Bigotry or Prejudice and

Understanding among Peoples and States, - “There in calm and slow conversation,
with freedom to speak, we talked about our respective creeds on them. A great respect
for the good faith of the adversary and for the differences in race, education, and age
led us almost always to the conclusion that religions, whatever they might be, should
not make men enemies of one another but rather brothers and real brothers. From
those conversations, that were repeated almost every day for a period of more than
three months, I do not believe I obtained anything , if any judgment does not deceive
me, but a profound respect for every idea sincerely conceived and practiced with
conviction.” (Miscellaneous Correspondence, pp. 205-206.)

IV Justice forms the cornerstone of friendship and cordiality amongst nations and
peoples, - “I ask your enlightened and just administration to lift up my deportation if
you find no merits for it and if you find me guilty, at least define it and submit me to
the decision of the courts. It is already time, Most Excellent Sir, to reverse a decision
that if it been dictated in a moment of rash haste, owing to circumstances that I cannot
ascertain, now that it has been seen that neither peace has been altered nor have the
spirits been over excited, there is no more reason for it to prevail and consequently to
continue. Fortunately, for governments and peoples have passed away those times
when it was believed that prestige was acquired only through harsh acts of an
inflexible and blind policy. Your Excellency has proven enough times during your
rule in Cataluña (in Spain) that the best and most enduring prestige is one based on the
love of the people and the sentiment of justice, the most powerful means of assuring
order and establish unity and respect among different or antagonistic races.”
(Miscellaneous Correspondence pp. 288-296.)

V True and worthy dignity of the human person is the crowning virtue that embraces
human freedom, justice and peace in the world, - “You harbor the best intention, you
want the Spaniards to embrace us brothers. I am convinced that you like us much and
that you also wish the good of Spain, but we do not solicit Spain’s compassion. We do
not want compassion but justice.”

“Neither obscurantism and fanaticism not oppression or superstition ever bind nor
have they ever bound peoples. On the other hand, liberty, rights, and love group
distinct races around the same standard, one aspiration, one destiny.” (Rizal –
Blumentritt Correspondence, Part One, pp. 304-305.)

VI Self-respect, among peoples and among states, is a way or instrument for man’s
perfection, - “In my opinion, self-esteem is the greatest good that God has endowed
man with for his perfection and purity saving him from many unworthy and base acts
when he forgets the precepts he had learned or had been inculcated in him. Precisely
for me self-esteem is dignity when it is not passionate and it is moderated by
judgment. It is like the sap that impels the tree to turn upward in search of the sun, the
force that launches a steamship on its course.

“God gave each one his own mind and his conscience so that he can distinguish
between right and wrong. All are born without chains, free and no one can subject the
will of another. Why would you submit to another your noble and free thought?”

“God, fountain of wisdom, does not expect man, created in His image, to allow
himself to be fooled and blinded. Men were not created by God to be enslaved, neither
were they endowed with intelligence in order to be misled, nor adorned with reason to
be fooled by others.” (Miscellaneous Correspondence, p. 188; Political and Historical
Writings, pp. 57, 65.)

VII Reasons for revolution and why free souls are in revolt, -

“If you continue the system of banishments, imprisonments, and sudden assaults for
nothing, if you will punish the Filipinos for your own faults, you will make them
desperate, you take away from them the horror of revolutions and disturbances, you
harden them and excite them to fight. Treat the people well, teach them the sweetness
of peace so that may adore it and maintain it.” (Political and Historical Writings, pp.
92-92.)

VIII Peace is first kept within man and then man radiates peace to the world and
humankind, - “I do not mean to say that our liberty will be secured at the sword’s
point, for the sword plays but little part in modern affairs, but that we must secure it
by making ourselves worthy of it, by exalting the intelligence and the dignity of the
individuals, by loving justice, right and greatness, even to the extent of dying for them
– and when a people reaches that height, God will provide a weapon, the idols will be
shattered, the tyranny will crumble like a house of cards and liberty will shine out like
the first dawn.” (El Filibusterismo, p. 360.)

IX Rizal bats for independence, and eloquently fights for self-determination and the
right of peoples to rule over themselves. Powerful self-will and self-reliance will lead
to genuine independence. In this respect, Dr. Jose Rizal who wrote his thoughts to the
end of colonialism on November 14, 1888 was in advance of and up ahead of the
United Nations establishment in 1945 by a good number of 57 years. –

“A country should have colonies only when she has too many people and too much
culture at home, and then she should pledge herself to promote the happiness and
welfare of her colonies.”

“If a colonizing nation cannot make her colonies happy, she ought to abandon them
and give them their liberty. No one has the right to make others unfortunate.” (The
Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence, Manila, Jose Rizal National Centennial
Commission, 1961, p. 215.)

X The role of travel as the great convenor of peoples. “To see one promontory, one
mountain, sea, one river, and see all,” says the Greek Philosopher Socrates. Travel
teaches global peace and toleration, -

“The patriarchal era in the Philippines is waning; the deeds of her illustrious sons are
no longer wasted away at home. The oriental chrysalis is leaving the cocoon. The
morrow of a long day for those regions (the Philippines) is announced in brilliant tints
and rose colored dawns, then that race, fallen into lethargy during the historic night
while the sun illumines other continents, again awakens, moved by the electric impact
that contact with Western peoples produces, and, she demands light, life, and
civilization that at one time they bequeath her, thus confirming the eternal laws of
constant evolution, of change, of periodicity, of progress.” (Political and Historical
Writings, pp. 18, 21)

XI The so-called “Indolence of the Filipinos,” –

In his sociological and anthropological analysis “Concerning the Indolence of the

Filipinos (Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinos, La Solidaridad, 15 July 1890) Rizal
said that “a man in the Philippines is only an individual, he is not a member of the
nation.” Further, Rizal wrote:
“The evil is not that indolence exists more or less latently but that it is fostered and
magnified. Among men, as well as among nations, there exist not only aptitudes but
also tendencies toward good and evil.”

- Rizal, Indolence of the Filipino People

“Under the present circumstances, we do not desire separation from Spain; all that we
ask is for greater attention, better education, better government employees, one or two
delegates and more security for us and our properties. Spain could win the
appreciation of the Filipinos if she were only reasonable. But as the Latin saying goes,
‘Quos vult perdere Jupiter, prius dementat.’ (He whom Jupiter wishes to lose, he first
makes him lose his mind).”

- Epistolario de Rizal, 139

“A country should have colonies only when she has too many people and too much
culture at home and then she should pledge herself to promote the welfare and
happiness of her colonies. If a colonizing nation cannot make her colonies happy, she
ought to abandon them and give them their liberty. No one has the right to make
others unfortunate!”

- Jose Rizal
“Law has no skin, reason has no nostrils.”

- (The Philippines: A Century Hence)\

Dr. Rizal supplied the ideas of development and modernization that kindled some
movements that changed the destiny and providence of the Philippines. He sparked
and aroused such Filipinos as Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario
Mabini, M.H. del Pilar and Emilio Jacinto – these Filipinos became the extensions,
the continuity of Rizal’s brain. Rizal always provided the ideas, the concepts, the
brainstorm for the actions of the other great

Filipinos. The novels and other works of Rizal and his eventual execution thru musket
gun fires struck the Filipinos’ brains and hearts to wrath and fury against Spanish
tyranny, persecution, suppression and mismanagement. Rizal’s ideas on political
modernization are still very far from actualization.

Dr. Rizal Organizes the Convening of “An International Association of

Filipinologists”:
As an internationalist (el estudiante de intercontinental politica, as Rizal called
himself) Dr. Jose Rizal wanted to gather together all the great scholars and savants on
the “Philippine Cause.” He thought of holding it in the great, classical City of Paris,
then, with London, the intellectual and cerebral capital of the Western World. In this
project, Rizal was assisted by Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt and the Filipino
Association aspired “to study the Philippines from the scientific and historical point of
view.” It would assemble international congresses, hold public competitions in the
fine arts and endeavor to establish a biblioteca publica, un museo and publish un libro
de biblioteca sobre Filipinas and written by los conocidos especialistas (This project
would be something like the “United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).”) The proffered Junta Directiva consisted of:

Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt (Austrian) – Presidente

Edmund Plauchut (Frenchman) – Vice President
Dr. Reinhold Rost (Anglo-German) – Counselor or Consojero
Dr. Antonio Regidor (Filipino) – another Counselor or Consojero
Jose Rizal (Filipino) – Secretary to the Board.

Sad to say, the plan to convene the International Congress throughout the course of
the Paris Exposition which lasted from May 6, 1889 up to November 7, 1889 was not
carried out because France confined the period of the international congress to only
six (6) months from May to October of the year 1889. Nevertheless, the tireless,
inexhaustible, vigorous, spirited, unflagging and unfaltering Internacionalista de
Vanguardia Dr. Jose Protasio Rizal attended many of the sixty-nine (69) international
conferences conducted during the world-wide Paris Exposition (Una Exposicion de
Paris el Siglo Diecinueve). May I advance the view that during this Anniversary of the
Martyrdom of Rizal, we sponsor a similar Exposicion to bring Dr. Jose Rizal Mercado
y Alonso Realonda to the awareness, recognition, cognizance and mindfulness of the
whole civilized world. For, truth to tell, Rizal belongs to the ages and to all the
generations of the human race. I further propose that the topics of discussion include
the international order, evolution of world politics, globalization, transnationalism,
international law, international organization, international morality, NATIONAL
SECURITY, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, GLOBAL ECONOMY, ECONOMIC
COOPERATION, ENHANCING HUMAN RIGHTS, SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT, POPULATION, RESOURCES, the ENVIRONMENT, FOOD
SECURITY, HEALTH EDUCATION and so on and so forth.

XII On Nationalism –

For Rizal, nationalism, which is loyalty and devotion to our nation and the sense of
national consciousness exalting our nation and placing her along with other nations,
underscoring our culture, our values and our other interests, comprised principally his
never ending battle. It is as though, to Rizal, our nation had a national memory that
got us in shape and prepared us for our decisions, determinations and choices. The
idea of nationality and nationalism was necessary and crucial to our political growth,
and had a vitality, a spirit, an energy, that is to say, a robustness, that can go above
and beyond national frontiers. To Rizal, it is not enough to think nationally, or even
regionally, but that we must think internationally, globally, even intercontinentally.
Nationalism, which is made sacred by patriotism so that it does not degenerate into
national egotism or smug and arrogant braggadocio, then leads the Filipino to become
a true “citizen of the world”, to quote the Greek philosopher, Diogenes (412-323
B.C.), or “un ciudad-ano verdaderamente cosmopolita o mundial”. No wonder Rizal
wrote a letter to Mariano Ponce, dated 27 July 1888, Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. II, 32-
36.) stating: “Let this be our only motto: For the welfare of the Native Land. On the
day when all Filipinos should think like him (M.H. del Pilar) and like us, on that day
we shall have fulfilled our arduous mission, which is the formation of the Filipino
nation.” And in an eloquent speech, “Farewell to 1883”, Rizal affirmed in a soul-
stirring, heartrending poignant declaration thus: “In my heart I have suppressed all
loves, except that of my native land; in my mind I have erased all ideas which do not
signify her progress; and my lips have forgotten the names of the native races in the
Philippines in order not to say more than Filipinos.” And, finally, so that I can tie up
the loose ends on nationalism, Dr. Rizal wrote a sarcastic, almost caustic and
sneering, letter to Reverend Father Vicente Garcia, in Madrid, on January 7, 1891, as
published in Epistolario Rizalino, Volume III, No. 432 pp. 137 where Rizal bitterly
declared: “The smallness of the advancement that the Filipinos have made in three
centuries of Hispanism is all due, (in my opinion) to the fact that our talented men
have died without bequeathing to us nothing more than the fame of their names XXX
There is then individual progress or improvement in the Philippines, but there is no
national, general progress. The individual is the only one who improves and not the
species.”

Rizal in Dapitan, banished in 1892-1896, -

Rizal lived in exile in far-away Dapitan, a remote town in Zamboanga del Norte in
Mindanao which was under the Jesuits, who were in charge of the Catholic
Evangelization of Mindanao. This four-year inter regnum in the life of Rizal was
extremely fruitful and copious and abundant with many feats and achievements. He
practiced medicine, pursued scientific projects and studies, went on with his artistic,
humanistic and literacy works, broadened his linguistic interests (Rizal knew 23
languages and he was fluent in Spanish, German and French), built a school for boys,
fostered and promoted community development projects, invented a wooden machine
for baking small, usually rectangular, blocks of fired or sun-dried clay, which are
bricks used in building, involved in farming and commerce and he even had time to
preoccupy himself in lotto games (the Spanish lottery). In addition, this all-universal
man, this Renaissance Man, carried on correspondence with his family, kin’s, siblings,
fellow political reformists, illustrious scientists, scholars, professors, savants,
scientific experts, academicians, anthropologists, etymologists, linguists and cultural
anthropologist. He sent and received letters and studies to such illustrious personages
as Ferdinand Blumentritt, Dr. A. B. Meyer, W. Joest of Berlin, S. Knuttle of Stuttgart,
N.M. Keihl of Prague or Praha and Reinhold Rost. Incidentally, it is said that Rizal,
the musician, composed the song “Leonor”, “El Canto del Prisoner”, and “Alin Mang
Lahi.”

There are indications that Dr. Rizal dealt with ecological concerns and, by his
friendships with eminent and distinguished scientists and scholars of Europe such as
Ferdinand Blumentritt, Reinhold Rost, A.B. Meyer, W. Joest of Berlin, S. Knuttle of
Stuttgart and N.M. Keihl of Prague, Rizal believed in cooperation. Of course, even
now, the problems are immense and complex; barriers to cooperation are formidable
failure to find solutions carry potentially dire consequences.

Rizal found Dapitan and other places in Zamboanga an ideal place for collecting
specimens for scientific study. Accompanied by his students, Rizal explored the forest
and seacoast looking for specimen of insects, plants, seashells and other aquatic lives.
He examined carefully every specimen to find out its potential value. He sent different
types of specimen, e.g., insects, birds, fish, snakes and shells to Dr. Meyer. Some of
the specimens he sent were rare and had not been known yet which were named in his
honor by the European scientists. Among these specimens were Draco Rizali (a flying
dragon), Apogonio Rizali (a small beetle), and Rhacaphorus Rizali (a rare frog).

In payment of these valuable specimens and in recognition of his effort, the European
scientists sent him scientific books, journals, magazines and surgical instruments.

Rizal in a Larger Perspective:

Rizal’s quest for knowledge was boundless - it was unlimited; it was never-ending. He
conducted researches and studies in anthropological, ethnographical, archeological,
geographical and geological field of knowledge.

Rizal today has become politically useful, but Rizal was not a politician in the
contemporary sense. Rizal did not even pretend to be a political leader. Rizal has
continued to address us in the political sense because he remained basically as an
intellectual, as a cerebral thinker and a writer. We get his political message through
his works and his writings. Not through anecdotes or short accounts that are cute and
entertaining.

I emphasize this important point because in our culture we have tended to identify the
political worth of individuals in terms of their involvement in politics. Wala kang
cuenta kung hindi ka nakadikit sa politico. Wala kang halaga kung wala kang boss na
politico. Dapat marami kang kakilalang politicians, senators, congressman,
government officials, etc., etc. This is precisely what Rizal had consistently tried to
avoid.

We can here define a positive formulation of Rizal’s role. He was content, like
Apolinario Mabini, to remain the BRAINS, the INTELLIGENCE, the INTELLECT,
the BRAIN-POWER, the THINKER of the REVOLUTION. He was an arbiter of
values – he was a passionate partisan for freedom. As a social thinker, he was very
close to the ideas of Francois VOLTAIRE, Denis DIDEROT and Charles de
Montesquieu. Rizal truly belonged to the Enlightenment of the 18th Century.

Rizal premised his hopes and aspirations on EDUCATION – Por la educacion recibe
lustre la patria. He also premised his hopes on the general enlightenment and
illumination of the people. Of course, it was obvious that enlightenment could not be
possible unless the colonial and imperialist status quo was first demolished and
dismantled. There must be an upheaval or revolutionary turbulence that would make
possible what Rizal was advocating.

Herein lies the greatness of Rizal – his reliance on INTELLIGENCE cognitive

insight, intellect and TRUTH and the tenacity, the unswerving determination, the
persevering obstinacy in upholding them.

To have such brilliant and enlightening parallel lives and equivalence as Rizal,
Gandhi and Nehru; Rizal and Sun Yat Sen; Rizal, Jefferson and Lincoln; Rizal and
Juarez and Jose Marti. Rizal and Benjamin Franklin is to widen the reach of this
essay-dissertation and this is as it ought to be for the lives and vigor of such
personages of destiny – of persons of such rank and importance – converge or
rendezvous in a confluence in that junction of vision and quest that in the lyrical,
(rhapsodic) words of Albert Camus (1913-1960) “transcend national barriers with an
effulgence that reaches even the stars.” The lives of these luminaries give us, in the
words of Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), “a gleam of time between two eternities.”

On this day of Martyrdom- Heroism of Dr. Jose Rizal, may we be brought one step
closer to the attainment of Rizal’s dream – a nation worthy of its freedoms, esteemed
and admired not so much for its material power as for its moral and ethical dignity, a
people rising to its deserved distinction in the group of free peoples, because we have
kept faith with the teachings and ideas of Dr. Jose Rizal.

We Filipinos, deserve a better fate, a destiny realized in happiness and prosperity, and
we will achieve these, if only we will affirm that such a noble destiny is our
inalienable right.

Lastly, to conclude:

Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal left behind him a rich, sumptuous, abundant and abounding
heritage of worthy precepts and nationalistic teachings and principles from which our
beloved nation shall continue to draw wisdom, insight, vision and inspiration. In every
important public question – especially the issue of our national identity and dignity,
Rizal always and eloquently spoke in the full panoply and brilliant efflorescence of
his genius, definitely statesmanlike and clear-visioned and with our national pride and
interest paramount and dominant in his mind. In this poetical and lyrical sense, Rizal
has not died. Rizal has acquired a permanent validity in our culture and our history
and has made an enduring, everlasting contribution to the national heritage. Rizal was
una perla del hombre and I, once in a forum-colloquium, described Rizal as genio de
su raza and un Filipino de oro mas puro.

Hero-worshipping exists about Rizal because, says Thomas Carlyle, “hero-

worshipping will forever exist universally among mankind.” A hero, such as Rizal,
according to Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) the American transcendentalist
essayist and writer, “is never braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five
minutes longer.” And in the winter of our discontent, Rizal shines like the glorious
sun!”

I am hearkening again to the eloquent voice of Rizal across all these years – it is
soothing, calming, comforting, and quieting voice, it is a sound formed in the brain
and uttered by lips that speak the truth:

“What are you doing for the country that made you what you are, that gives you life
and knowledge? Don’t you realize that a life which is not dedicated to a great idea is
useless? It is a pebble lost in the field, when it should form a part of some building.”

Through the sage Father Florentino, Rizal says:

“xxx as long as the Filipino people do not have sufficient vigor to proclaim, head held
high and chest bared, their right to a life of their own in human society, and to
guarantee it with their sacrifices, with their very blood; as long as we see our
countrymen feel privately ashamed, hearing a growl of their rebelling and protesting
conscience while in public they keep silent and even join the oppressor in mocking the
oppressed; as long as we see them wrapping themselves up in their selfishness and
praising with forced smiles the most despicable acts, begging with their eyes for a
share of the booty, why give them independence?” and - - lyrically, mellifluously
these silvery, impassioned and emotional words of Padre Florentino in Noli Me
Tangere

“we must win our freedom by deserving it, by improving the mind and enhancing the
dignity of the individual, loving what is just, what is good, what is great, to the point
of dying for it.”

Speaking for myself alone, and for the whole Filipino people, to discover Rizal is to
discover the Filipino; to discover the Filipino is to discover Rizal.

Pues! Bien deben saber que lo perfecto

Va con Dr. Jose Protasio Rizal, El Justo,
EL CAMPEON! EL VENCEDOR! y UN GANADOR!
(Very well, give way to what is perfect
Give way to Dr. Jose Protasio Rizal the Just
The Champion! The Conqueror! The Victorious!)

With Rizal, as our turn of mind and frame of reference, there is a critical need for a
governance-management that is earnest and dedicated, generous and altruistic and
honest and above board; a governance-management that looks out for the people and
responds to their grievances and complaints; a governance-management that leads the
sovereign people by persuasion and exhortation rather than by force and violence; a
governance-management that is principled and moral and adheres to the force of civic,
virtues, values and self-respect and merit of the individual; a government-leadership
that creates a vision, expresses and elucidates the vision, and tenaciously and
resolutely accomplishes the vision; a governance-management that generates, not just
more followers, but more leaders; and finally, a government-management that cares
not just how well and stable the affairs of government go after they left office. After
all, leadership is not first telling the people they are the “boss”; leadership leads the
people where they do not naturally want to but ought to, have to, need to, be obliged
to or required to.

How then will the Filipino people, but the youth most specifically, respond to these
stirring, cogent, and forceful interrogations posed by Dr. Jose Rizal:
“Where are the youth who will dedicate their innocence, their idealism, their
enthusiasm to the good of the country? Where are they who will give generously of
their blood to wash away so much shame, crime and abomination? Pure and
immaculate, must be the victim for the sacrifice to be acceptable. Where are you,
young men and women, who are to embody in yourselves the life force that has been
drained from our veins, the pure ideals that have grown stained in our minds, the fiery
enthusiasm that has been quenched in our hearts? We await you, come, for we await
you!”

Your words, Rizal are undying and immortal expressions, and they have reverberated,
and will continue to reverberate in our moral principles, across a wide time span, like
the weeping and commiserations of a true martyred-prophet. Go, then, Rizal into the
peace that is the Lord’s “et in alarum tuarum confugio donec transeat inequitas. And
you, Rizal, will seek safety under the wings of the Lord’s till the passing of iniquity!