Author: Claro M.

Recto

Sponsored the
Bill in the Senate: Jose P.
Laurel

Signed: June 12,

1956
Full name of the Law
An act toinclude in the curricula of
all public and private schools,
colleges and universities courses
on the life, works and writings of
Jose Rizal, particularly his novels
Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, authorizing the
printing and distribution thereof,
and for otherpurposes.
- mandates all educational
institutions in thePhilippinesto

offer courses aboutJose Rizal

 Important points from RA
1425:
Re-dedication of the ideals of
freedom and nationalism

Honoring the national hero and

patriot, Jose Rizal-remember
with special fondness and
devotion the lives and works
that
have shaped the
national character
 Important points from RA
1425:
Life, works and writings of Jose
Rizal particularly his novels Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo,
should be a constant and
inspiring source of patriotism
Important points from RA
1425:
Instill values of moral character,
civic conscience, personal
discipline and duties of
citizenship
Section 1:

Noli Me Tangere and El

Filibusterismo

- shall be included in the

curricula of all schools,
colleges and universities

- public or private
Section 1:
Noli Me Tangere and
El Filibusterismo

- In the collegiate
courses, the original or
unexpurgated editions of the

Noli Me Tangere and El

Filibusterismo shall be used
as
basic texts.
Section 2:
It shall be obligatory on all
schools, colleges and universities
to keep in their libraries an
adequate number of copies of
the original and expurgated
editions of the Noli Me Tangere
and El Filibusterismo

Also Rizals other works and

biography.
Section 2:
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 for required reading in all
public or private schools,
colleges and universities.
Section 2:
All schools, colleges and
universities are obligated to have
adequate number of copies of
Rizals two novels and his other
literacy pieces.
Section 3:
The National Board of Education
is assigned to translate Rizals
writings into English, Tagalog and
other principal Philippine
dialects.
 Section 3:

- cause them to be printed in

cheap, popular editions

- cause them to be distributed,

free of charge, to persons
desiring to read them, through
the Purok organizations and
the
Barrio Councils throughout the
country.
Section 4:

Nothing inthis Act shallbe

construed asamendmentor
repealing section nine hundred
twenty-seven of the
Administrative Code
Section 4:

- prohibits the discussion

ofreligious doctrines by public
school teachers and other
person engaged in any public
school
Section 5:

A fine of three hundred pesos is

issued if the act was violated.
Significance

It arouse Filipino nationalism

Makes the Filipino people

remember who they are
and that they have their
own identity as a nation
CONCEPT OF A HERO
The concepts of hero and
heroism seem to have existed
in all cultures on earth, in many
forms and varieties

The word itself has probably

appeared first in ancient
Greece, where it was combined
in the name of one of the
greatest heroes of all times:
Heracles.
CONCEPT OF A HERO
Ancient Greece

According to Robert Graves,

- an authority on Greek culture

- the name Hero is derived from

that of the great goddess Hera
so Hero means Heras Glory.

Heracles, then, lived, acted and

died in the name and for the
glory of that goddess.
CONCEPT OF A HERO
Ancient Greece

One of the most famous Greek

heroes was the Athenian
Theseus, who sailed from his city
to Crete to fight against the
Minotaur and save his young
countrymen and women, who
were supposed to be sacrificed to
a monster.
CONCEPT OF A HERO
Ancient Greece

In a book Graves describes

important feature of life of a
hero
- dies not just to glorify his
Mother goddess but to save
his
people the tribe of which
he
is chief from all their
yearly
sins and all possible
CONCEPT OF A HERO
Japan

Japanese Yamato Take, who was

the son of a king was accredited
with slaying a dangerous serpent
of Omi.
- Similar deeds were
performed
by Heracles.
CONCEPT OF A HERO
Christians

Jesus heroism was not apparent

in his physical powers but in
doing miracles. His death in
agony on the cross presents him
as a classic hero. Jesus was a
classic victim
- like Heracles, he went up
after
his death to heaven, to
become a proper deity.
CONCEPT OF A HERO
The Hero then possessed the
three main characteristics of
heroism:

1. They performed outstanding

deeds
2. They risked their very being for
the sake of others rather than
for their own glory
3. They were all victims
 CONCEPT OF A HERO
Rizal as a hero
1. Performed outstanding deeds
- used the pen to fight
2. Risked his very being for the
sake of his countrymen
- he waged a non-violent crusade
against the oppressors of his
countrymen
3. He is a victim
- suffered political martyrdom
WAS RIZAL AN AMERICAN SPONSORED HERO?

The Spaniards, the Filipinos and

the Americans raised Rizal to
the rank of supremacy among
our heroes.
- Thus Rizals life, works and
martyrdom raised him to
the
highest place in the
pantheon of our
revolutionary heroes
WAS RIZAL AN AMERICAN SPONSORED HERO?

His supremacy was acknowledge

by his contemporaries(Aguinaldo,
Bonifacio, etc.)
- Spanish writers acknowledge
his fame
- American colonial legislators
who came to admire our
people through his history
acknowledge him as well
WAS RIZAL AN AMERICAN SPONSORED HERO?

It is simply not true that there was

ever any colonialists meeting or
plot to impose Rizal as the
National Hero of the Philippines.

The decision to honor him in this

way was made by the Filipinos,
for the Filipinos.
1. The doctrines of Rizal are not for
one epoch but for all epochs.
They are as valid today as they
were yesterday. It cannot be said
that because the political ideals of
Rizal have been achieved,
because of the change in the
institutions, the wisdom of his
counsels or the value of his
doctrines have ceased to be
opportune. They have not.
- Rafael Palma
2. As a towering figure in the
Propaganda Campaign, he took

an "admirable part" in that

movement w/c roughly covered
the period from 1882-1896.
3. Blumentritt, after reading
RizalsNoli, wrote &
congratulated
its author, saying among other
things: "Your work, as we
Germans
say, has been written w/ the
blood
of the heart...
4. If Rizals friends & admirers
praised
w/ justifiable pride theNoli& its
author, his enemies were equally
loud & bitter in attacking &
condemning the same.
5. The proponents & opponents of
the
Rizal Law engaged themselves in
a
bitter & long drawn-out debate
the
finally resulted in the enactment
of
a compromise measure, now
known as RA 1425.
6. Cong. Henry Allen Cooper of
Wisconsin delivered an eulogy of

Rizal & even recited the martyrs

Ultimo Pensamiento on the floor
of
the U. S. House of
Representatives
in order to prove the capacity of
the Filipinos for self- government.
7. No Filipino has yet been born who
could equal or surpass Rizal as a
"person of distinguished
valor/enterprise in danger,
fortitude in suffering.
8. Dr. Frank C. Laubach, an
American biographer of Rizal,
spoke of the heros great
courage.
9. To the bigoted Spaniards in Spain
& in the Philippines, Rizal was the
most intelligent, most
courageous,
& most dangerous enemy of the
reactionaries & the tyrants
10. Fernando Acevedo, who called

Rizal his distinguido amigo,

compaero y paisano", wrote
the
letter from Zaragoza, Spain, on
25
Oct 1889: "I see in you the
model
Filipino; your application to
study
& you talents have placed on a
11. The Bicolano Dr. Tomas Arejola
wrote Rizal in Madrid, 9 Feb
1891,
saying: "Your moral influence
over us is indisputable."
12. Guillermo Puatu of Bulacan
wrote
this tribute to Rizal:
Among the foreigners who recognized Rizal as the
leading Filipino of his time were Blumentritt,
Napoleon M. Kheil, Dr. Rheinhold Rost, &
Vicente Barrantes. Prof. Blumentritt told Dr.
Maximo Viola in May 1887 that "Rizal was the
greatest product of the Philippines & that his
coming to the world was like the appearance of
a rare comet, whose rare brilliance appears
only every other century."
13. Napoleon Kheil of Prague,
Austria, wrote to Rizal & said:

Dr. Rost, distinguished Malayologist

& librarian of the India office of
London, called Rizal "una perla
hombre"
14. Don Vicente Barrantes
admitted that Rizal was the
first
among the Filipinos"
15. Even before the outbreak of
the
revolution against Spain in
1896,
many instances can be cited to

prove that his country here &

abroad recognized Rizals
leadership. In the early part of
1899 he was unanimously
elected
by the Filipinos in Barcelona &
16. In the early part of 1899 he was

unanimously elected by the

Filipinos in Barcelona & Madrid
as
honorary pres.
17. In Paris, he organized & became
chief of theIndios Bravos. In Jan

1891, Rizal was again

unanimously
chosenResponsable(chief) of
the Spanish-Filipino
Association.
18. He was also the founder &
moving spirit in the founding of
la Liga Filipinaon Manila in
3 Jul 1892.
19. A year after Rizals execution,
Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo & the
other
revolutionary chiefs exiled to
Hong Kong held a
commemorative program there
on 29 Dec 1897 on the occasion
of the 1stanniversary of the
heros
execution & martyrdom.
20. Of utmost significance in the
publics appreciation for Rizals
patriotic labors in behalf of his
people were the tributes paid
by
the revolutionary government
to
his memory.
21. On 20 Dec 1898 at the
revolutionary capital of Malolos,
Pres. Aguinaldo issued the
1stofficial proclamation making
30 Dec of that year as
"Rizal Day".
22. It should be further noted that
both the La Independencia,
edited by Gen. Antonio Luna, &
the El Heraldo de la Revolucion,

official organ of the

revolutionary
government, issued a special
supplement in honor of Rizal in
one of their December issues
in1898.
23 . Cecilio Apostol, on 30 Dec of
the
same year, wrote these lines:

"!Duerme en paz las sombras de la nada,

Redentor de una Patria esclavizada!
!No llores de la tumba en el misterio
Del espaol el triunfo momentaneo:
Que si Una bala destrozo tu craneo,
Tambien tu idea destrozo un emperio!
24. The Filipinos were not alone in
grieving the untimely death of
their hero & idol, for the
intellectual & scientific circles of
the world felt keenly the loss of
Rizal, who was their esteemed
colleague & friend.
25. Among the scientific
neurological
services held especially to
honor
Rizal, the one sponsored by the
Anthropological Society of
Berlin
in 20 Nov 1897 at the initiative
of
Dr. Rudolph Virchow, its
president,
was the most important &
26. The newspapers, magazines, &
other periodicals throughout the

civilized world in Germany,

Austria, France, Holland,
London,
the US, Japan, Hong Kong &
Macao, Singapore, Switzerland,
&
in Latin American countries
published accounts of Rizals
martyrdom in order to render
27. Beyond the shadow of a doubt
that the Great Malayan, by his
own efforts & sacrifices for his
oppressed countrymen, had
projected himself as the
foremost
leader of the Philippines until
the
moment of his immolation.
28 . The idea of naming the district
of
Morong after Rizal came from
Dr. Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino,
&
not from Judge Taft,
an American.
29. Dr. Laubachs view about the
question is as follows:
The tradition that every American hears when he
reaches
the Philippine Islands is that W. H. Taft, feeling that the
Filipinos needed a hero, made one out of Rizal. We
trust
this book (Rizal: Man & MartyrO.) will serve to show
how
empty that statement is. it speaks well for Taft that he
was
sufficiently free from racial prejudice to appreciate in
some measure the stature of a great Filipino. It was a
Spaniard who did more than any other to save Rizal for
posterityRetaa whose work (Vida Escritos del Dr.
Jose
Rizal, Madrid, 1907), is by far the most complete &
scholarly than we have(in1936O.). like Rizal, he lost
30. Granting that 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 fait accompli,
&
that was that Jose Rizal had
already been acclaimed by his
countrymen & the scientific
31. William Cameron Forbes, an
ardent admirer of Rizal & the
governor-general of the
Philippines during the
construction of the Rizal
Mausoleum on the Luneta, is
appropriate at the point of
acknowledging Rizal as
national
hero through placing his
picture
on the postage stamp and
32. While the foremost national
heroes of other countries are
soldier-generals, like George
Washington of US, Napoleon I &
Joan of Arc of France, simon
Bolivar of Venezuela, Jose de
San
Martin of Argentina, Bernardo
OHiggins of Chile, Jimmu Tenno
of Japan, etc., our greatest hero
was a pacifist & a civilian whose
weapon was his quill.
33. Great men said about the pen
being mightier & more powerful
than the sword. Napoleon I
himself, who was a great
conqueror & ruler, said: "There
are
only two powers in the world;
the
sword & the pen; and in the end
the former is always conquered
by the latter".
34. The following statement of Sir
Thomas Browne is more
applicable to the role played by

Rizal in our libertarian struggle:

"Scholars are men of peace;
they
bear no arms; but their tongues
are sharper than the sword;
their
pens carry further & give a
louder
35. Quoted from Bulwer: "take
away
the sword; states can be saved
w/o it; bring the pen!
36. The Austrian savant Prof.
Blumentritt judged him as "the
most prominent man of his own
people" and "the greatest man
the Malayan race has
produced".
36. The Austrian savant Prof.
Blumentritt judged him as "the
most prominent man of his own
people" and "the greatest man
the Malayan race has
produced".
36. The Austrian savant Prof.
Blumentritt judged him as "the
most prominent man of his own
people" and "the greatest man
the Malayan race has
produced".
Presented by:
555 TUNA