THE LIFES AND WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL

Brainstorm: The Context of the Rizal Bill

THE CONTEXT OF THE RIZAL BILL

The postwar period witnessed a Philippines

beset by difficulties and problems. With a
country torn and tired by the stresses of World
War II, the people and government placed an
utmost concern on getting back on their feet.

As the Philippines faced numerous challenges,

most notably the call for nation-building,
prominent nationalists took action. They
pursued government policies aimed at instilling
patriotism and love for country in the Filipino
people's hearts and minds. These individuals
drew inspiration from the Philippine experience
of the revolution for independence against
Spain and from the heroes of that formative era
in the country's history.
The Story of Rizal Law
One of the measures sought was the passage of
Republic Act No. 1425, commonly referred to as Every law in the republican system of
the Rizal Law, which was primarily intended to government begin as a bill. In 1955, legislators
address “a need for re-dedication to the ideals filed a bill upon seeing the need to promote
of freedom and nationalism for which our nationalism and patriotism specially among the
heroes lived and died”. The law was met with youths. The original bill was filed by Sen. Claro
fierce opposition in both the Senate and the M. Recto and it was sponsored by Sen. Jose P.
House of Representatives during its passage. Laurel. The intent of the law was to promote
patriotism and nationalism so the senators saw
The Rizal Law: Why Students are Required to
no problem in legislating it.
Study the Life of Rizal and His Works?
However, upon its introduction in the
The Rizal course was created as an act of
legislature, the Rizal bill encountered
Congress of the Republic of the Philippines
formidable opposition. The Catholic church and
through Republic Act No. 1425 on June 12,
its allies in Congress and the media were the
1956. This was approved during the time of
primary source of opposition regarding the
President Ramon Magsaysay. The actual title of
legislation of the said bill. The original bill that
the law is "An Act to Include in the Curricula of
would eventually become the Rizal Law (R.A.
All Public and Private Schools, Colleges, and
1425) was filed by the Committee on Education
Universities Courses on the Life, works, writings
in the Philippine Senate (Sen. Jose P. Laurel
of Jose Rizal, Particularly his Novels, Noli Me
being the chairman at that time) as Senate Bill
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Authorizing the
438 on April 1956.
Printing and Distribution Thereof, and for Other
Purposes." The original bill stipulated the mandatory study
of Rizal's life and works especially his two
novels (Noli and El Fili) for all college and
university students. After its introduction in the
Senate, the original Rizal Bill was called as "an
attack on the church". The opponents said that
the novels painted a negative image of the
Catholic Church and these contain messages
that are not suited to the present time.
The Supporters and Oppositions of Rizal Bill
Majority of those people who took a stand
against the passage of the Rizal bill was from
the church and their powerful allies in the
Senate and Congress (Sen. Francisco "Soc"
Rodrigo and Congressman Miguel Cuenco).
There were also catholic organizations that
joined the opposition such as Accion Catolico
(Catholic Action), who were composed of
conservative Catholics: the Knights of
Columbus, the Congregation of the Mission and
the Catholic Teacher's Guild.
Central argument of the opponents of the Rizal
Bill was it forced young students to read Rizal's
work which had religious overtones. According
to those who were against the bill, it would be a
violation of constitutional freedom of religion
and the freedom of conscience. In one event
denouncing the Rizal Bill, one speaker named
Fr. Jesus Cavanna said that "Rizal's novel
painted a false picture of the conditions of the
country in the 19th century". Fr. Cavanna added
that the novels required for reading as
stipulated in the Rizal Bill contained more anti-
Church statements rather than nationalistic
statements. Fr. Cavanna pointed out that in Noli
Me Tangere displayed 120 anti-Catholic
statements compared to only 25 nationalistic
statements.
Another commentator Jesus Paredes said that
the novels contained objectionable material
and the Catholics have a right not to read them
in order not to endanger their faith. Opposition
to the Rizal Bill escalted as the priests and
bishops preached againts the Rizal Bill during
masses. The Archbishop of Manila Rufino
Santos came out with a pastoral letter warning
about the dissatisfaction of the youth on the
church if the Rizal Bill was approved.
In the Senate, Senator Rodrigo who held the
presidency of the Accion Catolico denounced
the Rizal Bill. He said that he would read Rizal's
novels because his faith in the Catholic Church
is strong but he would not allow his teenaged
son to read the Noli and El Fili because they
could harm his faith.
In the House of Representatives, Congressman
Miguel Cuenco led the opposition to the Rizal
Bill. In his privilege speech, he said that many of
the anti-Catholic passages found on Rizal's
novels were against the holy sacraments and
disparages devotion to the Virgin Mary, the
Saints, the use of scapulars, saying of rosaries,
novenas, and indulged prayers.
While there were opponents of the Rizal Bill, it
also had its supporters. These include groups
such as the Veteranos de la Revolucion Filipina
(composed of war veterans), the Alagad ni Rizal,
The Knights of the Grand Ordeal, and the
Freemasons. Mayor of Manila at that time,
Arsenio Lacson, was another prominent
supporter of the bill. While attending the mass,
he walked out of the church when the priest
begun reading a circular from Archbishop
Santos denouncing the bill.
Within the Catholic Church, the lone voice
which supported the Rizal Bill was a Jesuit
scholar and historian Fr. Horacio de la Costa S.J.
He said that Rizal's works only exposed abuses
within the Church and added that the abuses
were committed by individual clergy and should
not be treated as reflective of the entire clergy.
Due to apparently never-ending debate on the
Rizal Bill, approved amendments were
formulated through ideas of three senators.
Senator Laurel’ created an amendment to the
original bill in which, other than Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, works written by
Rizal and works written by others about Rizal
would be included and reading of the
unexpurgated revision of the two novels would
no longer be compulsory to elementary and
secondary levels but would be strictly observed
to college level. Senator Roseller Lim suggested
the exemption to those students who feel that
reading Rizal’s novels would negatively affect
his or her faith. Senator Primicias created an
additional amendment that promulgates the
rules and regulations in getting an exemption
only from reading the two novels through
written statement or affidavit and not from
taking the Rizal Course. According to historian
Ambeth Ocampo, no student has ever availed of
this exemption. After the revised amendments,
the bill was finally passed on May 17, 1956 and
was signed into law as Republic Act 1425 by
President Ramon Magsaysay on June 12 of the
same year.
Though it was passed more than 50 years ago, it
had no implementing rules and regulations until
the National Historical Institute then, now
National Historical Commission of the
Philippines provided them in 2001, Republic Act
No. 1425.

"The bill was passed with a clause that would
give exemptions to those who feel that reading
Rizal's novels would damage his or her faith.
One can go to the Department of Education
with an affidavit attesting to one's brittle faith
and get an exemption - not from the Rizal
course that you still have to take - but from
reading the novels of Rizal. I usually tell my
students that to my knowledge, no one has yet
availed of this exemption, and if they are too
lazy to read, they can always use this loophole
in the Rizal Bill. Thus far, none of my students
has even tried."
Brainstorm: The 19th Century Philippines
UNVEILING THE VARIOUS ECONOMIC, SOCIAL
AND POLITICAL CHANGES THE 19TH CENTURY
FOCUSING ON RIZAL’S VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES
OPENING OF THE SUEZ CANAL
Previously, Spain governed the Philippines from
Mexico. The Spanish Crown assumed direct
control and administration of the Philippines
from Madrid. This became more convenient
with the opening of the Suez Canal and the
invention of steam ships, which reduced the
travel time from Spain to the country to 30
days.
RISE OF THE EXPORT CROP ECONOMY
The majority of Spaniards in the Philippines
were involved in maritime trading between
Manila and Mexico during the Galleon Trade.
Exploitation of the Philippines' natural
resources and the development of an export
crop economy were phenomena of the
nineteenth century, not of the Spanish rule’s
early period.
RISE OF THE EXPORT CROP ECONOMY

The majority of Spaniards in the Philippines

were involved in maritime trading between
Manila and Mexico during the Galleon Trade.
Exploitation of the Philippines' natural
resources and the development of an export
crop economy were phenomena of the
nineteenth century, not of the Spanish rule’s
early period.

THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND THE RISE OF CHINESE MESTIZO

Concerning the social picture of the 19th

century Philippines, at least three topics are
need to be discussed: (a) education; (b) the rise
of Chinese Mestizo; and (c) the rise of the
Inquilinos.

The sectors that greatly benefited from the

changing economy were the Chinese and the
Chinese mestizos. Since pre-colonial times, the
natives of the Philippine had trade relations
with the Chinese. During the height of the
Galleon Trade, it was also Chinese products that
comprised most of the goods being traded.

THE RISE OF INQUILINOS

The term inquilino, at least in modern Spanish,

has the same meaning as the English word
"tenant". In the context of the 19th century
inquilino system in the Philippines, the term
refers to a qualified system of tenancy or the
right to use land in exchange for rent.

As previously stated, the end of the Galleon

Trade and the opening of the Suez Canal
enabled more intensive rice cultivation and crop
production, including sugar cane and tobacco.
As a result, many estates gradually adopted the
inquilino system of land tenure.
THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

The so-called political influences that shaped

the nineteenth-century Philippines
disproportionately impacted the locals,
particularly Jose Rizal. Among these political
influences, the following are noteworthy: (a)
Liberalism; (b) the Bourbon Reforms' impact;
and (c) the Cadiz Constitution.

LIBERALISM

IMPACT OF THE BOURBON REFORM

Liberalism

is a worldview founded on principles of

freedom and equality. It encompasses a diverse
range of political ideologies that consider
individual liberty to be the most significant
political goal, and underscore individual rights
and opportunity of equality. Liberals generally
believe that government is necessary to protect
individuals from abuse by others, but they also
recognize that government can pose a threat to
liberty.
 IMPACTS OF THE EVENTS THAT OCCURRED
DURING THE 19TH CENTURY

It is a widely accepted principle in various social

sciences that we see an individual's life through
the lens of his or her society, and society
through the lens of an individual's life. This is
precisely why the nineteenth-century
Philippines is discussed here as Rizal's society as
a prelude to studying the hero's life and works.

However, one distinguishing feature of Rizal is

CADIZ CONSTITUTION that he does not only possess valuable
knowledge about his society but also a
mentality that enabled him to apply the
information in such a way that he could think
about what was happening in the world and
what might be happening within himself.

ECONOMIC CONTEXT

End of Galleon Trade

In March 1812, during Napoleon's occupation of
Spain, a liberal constitution was promulgated in
Cadiz. The Cadiz Constitution, drafted by
elected representatives, was implemented in
almost all areas of the Hispanic Monarchy that
remained under the Spanish crown's control.
The milestone constitution influenced
numerous other European constitutions, as well
as the post-independence American states.

Opening of the Suez Canal

Rise of the Export Crop Economy POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

Bourbon Reforms

Monopolies
Cadiz Constitution

Brainstorm: The Rizal Family

The Rizal Family

THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND

Education in the 19th Century

The Rise of Chinese Mestizo

The Rise of Inquilinos

Doña Teodora's family is believed to be

descended from Lakandula, Tondo's last native
king. Eugenio Ursua (of Japanese ancestry)
married a Filipina named Benigna. Regina, their
daughter, married Manuel de Quintos, a
Pangasinan lawyer who is Filipino-Chinese.
Lorenzo Alberto Alonso, a prosperous Spanish-
Filipino mestizo from Biñan, took Brigida
Quintos, the daughter of Manuel and Regina
Quintos, as his "significant other." The Lorenzo-
Brigida union produced five children, the
second of whom was Teodora Alonso Quintos,
Jose Rizal's mother.

The Alonsos adopted the surname Realonda

following the Claveria Decree of 1849, which
changed the native Filipino surnames. Rizal’s
mother thus became Teodora Alonso Quintos
Realonda.

The CLAVERIA DECREE of 1849

The young Jose Rizal in his diary ‘Memorias’

By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab

Many people revere the national hero Jose Rizal

as the icon of the Philippine Revolution in 1896
who penned the classics Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo that indirectly awakened Filipinos
to revolt against their Spanish colonizers.

People rarely look at Rizal as a child. He was no

different from ordinary boys who have received
beatings, talked about their crushes and played
games.

Such an attempt was made by Dr. Lianne

Habana, an Assistant Professor at the Ateneo
De Manila University Department of History.
She tackled Rizal’s childhood and childlike mind
at a conference Monday in the Ateneo to
commemorate Rizal’s 155th birthday. Rizal was
born on June 19, 1861.

In her lecture, Professor Habana, who holds a

Ph.D in Philippine Studies at the University of
the Philippines, gave a glimpse of Rizal’s psyche
growing up using the national hero’s diary aptly
titled “Memorias de un estudiante de Manila”
or “Memories of a student in Manila,” written
by Rizal when he was between 17 and 20 years
old.

The diary, Habana said, written in Spanish,

traced Rizal’s roots growing up in Calamba to
his early studies in nearby Binyang (now Biñan)
and eventually to his formal education at the
Ateneo Municipal school in Intramuros.

Habana said the book, penned under the

pseudonym “P. Jacinto,” depicted Rizal’s “very
typical boyhood in the 19th century,” of Rizal
playing games with his cousins while growing up
in Laguna.

Citing the book, Habana said Rizal had a typical

boyhood except for the fact that he was not
born a very “cute baby,” especially with his
“very big head abnormally large for his body,”
which made Rizal barely able to walk at two
years old.
But Rizal showed his prodigy even at a young
age, starting at nine years old when he studied
in his aunt’s house at Binyang where was taught
by a stern tutor Rizal described as a “tall, thin,
long-necked man, with a sharp nose and a body
bent slightly forward” who gave him beatings or
lashed him despite his stellar performance in
school.
“In Binyang, Rizal was very unhappy. He had a
very inquisitive mind, and maybe, he’s kind of
pilosopo, that he would often get on the wrong
side of the teacher and get beaten up every
day,” Habana said.
“This would really suppress the learning of a
child. Then again, as a child, he could have also
made it dramatic than it really was,” she added.
“When shall the night come to shelter me so
that I may rest in profound sleep?” Rizal wrote
in his Sept. 11, 1878 entry (he was just 16 years
old) about his childhood in Calamba. “Only God
knows. Meantime, now that I am separated in
the springtime of life from those I love best in
the world, now as I sadly write these pages.”
“If you look at his Memorias, many things stand
out, and for me whenever we think of Rizal, (we
see) this genius when apparently he just started
as a normal child like many of us,” Habana said.
“He was really a very normal person, but he was
able to carve out a niche for himself in our story
as a nation,” Habana added.
“He was also the Rizal we know less, the other
side of Rizal that is not connected to how
educated he was. It’s more of how he was as a
Filipino.”
Such was the feeling that resonates after
reading the Memorias, summarized best by
Leon Ma. Guerrero in his preface to the book as
translator: “(The Memorias) make it possible for
every generation to believe that… they can be
other Rizals.”
“To be like Rizal seems a much less hopeless
ambition.”

What also stood out in Rizal’s Memorias was

that about his mother Doña Teodora Alonso,
who was arrested when Rizal was just 10 years
old on the trumped up charge that she acted as
an accomplice in the attempt to poison her
brother’s wife.

Rizal’s mother was eventually acquitted by the

Supreme Court, but only after almost two and a
half years of incarceration.

“Returning to Calamba, the family was in

disarray. The imprisonment of his mother (had
an effect on) Rizal who suffered a bit and
became very sickly,” Habana said. “I cannot tell
you the emotion and the profound grief that
overempowered us. From then on, while still a
child, I lost my confidence in friendship, and I
mistrusted men,” Rizal wrote about his
mother’s arrest in his diary entry on Nov. 1,
1878.

Habana said reading the Memorias, one gets a

sense of wonder at how Rizal was just like any
ordinary child growing up – a boy struggling
with the trials he has made overly dramatic
through his childlike wonder at life’s
experiences.