THE HERO WHO FOUGHT WITH A PEN

Rizal wrote in one of his books, Noli Me Tangere, “I die without seeing the dawn's light shining on my country... You, who will see it, welcome it for me… don't forget those who fell during the nighttime.”

#Rizal Day

Written by: Ysabell Kristine Palo

Layout by: Aurora Isabel Madali

December 30, 2022 | 5:25 P.M.

As we arrive at the 126th year of Jose Rizal's execution, we commemorate him by recounting his works and looking back at his life. This December 30th, we celebrate Rizal Day again. 

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, known commonly as Jose Rizal, is known by Filipinos as our National Hero. The depths of his works and life are a familiar narrative to Filipinos everywhere, but there is more to him than common knowledge.

Jose Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna in a humble home. He was the 7th child among the 13 children of Francisco Mercado—his father, and Teodora Alonso—his mother.

In the beginning, young Rizal was known to be weak and small compared to those around his age. But thanks to his mother, who was his first teacher, Rizal was gifted and ahead of his time in terms of intellectual quotient. 

At 11 years old, Rizal entered Ateneo Municipal de Manila where he had excellent marks for subjects like Philosophy, Physics, Chemistry, and History. At this stage of life, he practiced different hobbies like writing poetry, drawing, painting, and clay modeling.

Rizal was not only a writer. He continued and studied medicine, specifically ophthalmology, because his mother was starting to go blind. He studied medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. Despite this, he wasn’t able to complete his education due to his stand on politics on opposing the beliefs and form of government Spanish colonizers were forcing on Filipinos. The priests and the faculty of the institution demanded that he must bear the same opinions and thoughts as them. Therefore, with a little push from his sister, Leonor, he left UST and continued studying medicine at the Central University of Madrid in Spain.

Living in Spain is when Rizal faced financial distraught which was difficult because he was far away from his family. He needed 50 pesos  for allowance a month for his personal needs alongside monetary aid for his tuition fee to be able to continue studying. There is no doubt that Rizal was exceptional, but due to his family's struggles, he had a hard time attaining his medical degree. Along the way, he studied arts and philosophy. While struggling, it was his friend Juan Luna, the painter of the famous Spolarium, who gave him financial assistance.

It was in Spain where Filipinos built an association called La Solidaridad in which Rizal was the president, recognizing him as the leader of the Filipinos in Europe. It was also when Graciano Lopez Jaena founded the La Solidaridad newspaper to be distributed every second and last week of the month as a propaganda movement. This newspaper campaigned for religious government reform and advocated and fought for the Filipinos rights. It contained the struggles the Philippines were facing as a colony of Spain. In this association, Rizal famously used the pen name Laong Laan.

During his stay in Spain, Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere to symbolically express how the Spaniards colonized the Philippines and how his countrymen were suffering because of it. He wrote this in fiction form with the main characters having similar traits as him. One of which was his rebelliousness toward Spanish colonization. The book wasn't published immediately as he was having a difficult time in Spain. It wasn’t until Rizal moved to Germany where he met with Professor Ferdinand Bluementritt, his closest friend, that the book was published. This was during the time his second novel El Filibusterismo, was also published, which was also shows the maltreatment of the Spanish colonizers of the Filipinos.

Rizal transferred to Paris due to the financial struggles that he continued to face and practiced as an ophthalmologist in the clinic of Louis de Wecker. After a while, he was forced to move to Germany despite liking it in Paris as the cost of living in Paris was higher than in Heidelberg, Germany. Here, he attended the clinic of Otto Becker, who was also a known eye doctor.

When he returned to the Philippines in 1892, he established a group called "La Liga Filipina" which was a political group that aimed to unify Filipinos. The Spaniards were displeased by this and exiled Rizal at Dapitan in northwest Mindanao. He stayed there for 4 years where he practiced medicine, taught students, and collected samples while recording his discoveries. Despite being away from the people fighting for independence, Rizal was never distant and was always set on doing as much as he can for Filipino independence. After Andres Bonifacio issued the Grito de Balintawak in 1896, he was executed by the Spanish government for the crime of rebellion that started because of his writings.

Rizal wrote in one of his books, Noli Me Tangere, “I die without seeing the dawn's light shining on my country... You, who will see it, welcome it for me… don't forget those who fell during the nighttime,” and true enough, he died before seeing the Philippines free from the Spaniards.

With this, let us all be reminded that we are free; and that no one should dictate us, and if someone does, we must fight for our democracy as Dr. Jose Rizal died for us to enjoy this freedom. Another excerpt from his goes: "Walang magiging alipin, kung walang magpapa-alipin” [Nobody will be a slave if nobody lets (someone) enslave you.] It is by our blood that we fight for our country with all our might.

Now, we know that Dr. Jose Rizal is more than just a figure or a national hero in our country; he is a doctor, linguist, farmer, naturalist, writer, artist, and many more things. Our national hero is more than simply what we read in books; he is a man of greatness, and the pen is his weapon.