Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Trocio
BA Psychology 4
PI 100 A
Should Rizal be the Philippine National Hero?
A Position Paper
Before forwarding my position on this question, I rigorously searched and scanned
for legislative documents that would state the reasons why Jose Rizal is the countrys
national hero. One prior knowledge I know was that his declaration was enacted during the
American occupation.
I am saddened, however, by the fact I discovered. That the twisting of facts on the
experiences of martyrs and activists during Martial Law has not only happened, but also on
the declaration of Philippine national symbols. Indeed, this goes to further prove that
historical and cultural revisionism has long existed in our country. Sadly, we tolerate and
accept it with open hearts.
In our elementary and high school classes, we were taught to believe that Jose Rizal
is our national hero. That among the names who fought against the Spanish colonizers, he
was the greatest one. However, on the 2002 executive summary report done by the
National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) entitled Selection and
Proclamation of National Heroes and Laws Honoring Filipino Historical Figures, the
introduction has stated that:
No law, executive order or proclamation has been enacted or
issued officially proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a
national hero.
I felt that there is a high need to actually revisit the laws enacted which made us
study on the Life and Works of Rizal compulsorily. The executive summary report made by
NHCP further added that there are actually nine national heroes namely Jose Rizal, Andres
Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Sultan Dipatuan
Kudarat, Juan Luna, Melchora Aquino and Gabriela Silang, on the following basis:
Heroes are those who contribute to the quality of life and destiny of a nation.
(As defined by Dr. Onofre D. Corpuz). (paragraph 1-3, Criteria for National Heroes,
Selection and Proclamation of National Heroes and Laws Honoring Filipino Historical
Figures, National Historical Commission of the Philippines)
Based on the same document, additional criteria for heroes are as follows:
1. A hero is part of the peoples expression. But the process of a peoples
internalization of a heros life and works takes time, with the youth
forming a part of the internalization.