Putang Ina 100: The Realism in Rizal

This paper is presented to the faculty and students of various aviation

schools in the celebration of Claro M. Rectos 110th Birth Anniversary held at the

University of St. La Salle, Mutien Marie Hall.

The Reproductive Health Law is now under scrutiny by the Supreme

Court. Many people, especially by the Church, have hailed it as a victory. After

all, they contest that the use of condoms, of Intra Uterine Devices, of birth control

pills, runs contrary to the principal maxim of God to Adam and Eve, for them to

grow and multiply. And grow and multiply we must. However, as the same maxim

points out, the humans of the earth can grow and multiply as long as the

progenitors of the later generation can feed them, clothe them, give them shelter

and make them usable members of the community. It is also in this point that

supporters of the law would point out making it a central counter argument to the

opposition. The drama played by the pro and the cons, the arguments, and even

the threat of punishments closely resemble that of the time when the idea of

requiring the study of the life, works and teachings of Rizal came into being: the

spirit of which is slowly dying in an age where forgetfulness is a bliss if not a

blessing.

Putang Ina 100 as many students from the University of the Philippines

would call Philippine Institutions 100, the course code for the study of Rizal,

reflects how bleak our hero is received by the youth today. The question of who

Rizal is absurd. Everybody knows Rizal. He is in many household things. He is in

every town and city plaza all over the country. He is in the iconic monument

marking the very place where he became a martyr for our freedom. All of these

accolades for our national hero prompts an entirely new question: Why study

Rizal? This is not a new question as this is the very one asked by the hotly

debated and very controversial law making the study of Rizal mandatory in all

levels of education.

It was Claro M. Recto who made many lives miserable a decade after the

Second World War. Recto made many enemies especially in the Church, who at

that time, still has a tight grip on almost everybody and on almost everything. The

Church argued that the use of the complete, unexpurgated version would be

detrimental to the fledging faith of the youth. Recto countered that this is unwise

saying that Rizal should be studied at the context of his work. Censoring his

works would undermine the premise of why Rizal should be studied in the first

place. The Church threatened excommunication. The supporters of the law took

the threat in a stride. The Church also threatened retribution on the next election

but Recto, fought on, not minding if the Rizal Law would be his last in the Senate

during his time. Owners of private Catholic schools threatened to close up shop.

Recto took it lightly saying that the government would just nationalize the

schools. Many threats were made but this did not deter Claro M. Recto from

ensuring that the youth gets the opportunity of knowing who Rizal is, what Rizal

did for the country and why Rizal is considered the countrys national hero.
This brings us to another question apart from the queries slated earlier: is the

Rizal Law still realistic? This question, by extension also asks: Is Rizal still

realistic? After all, many deify Rizal making him a larger than life figure. On both

questions, Ill hazard a response. On both accounts, the answer is a yes.

Why?

1. The works of Rizal, like the works of many contemporary Filipino writers

that came before and after him, is timely and timeless. Classic yet relevant

and realistic: applicable then as it is useful now.

2. The study of Rizal is a pressing matter. It is a way for us to concretize our

quest to find our identity as a people and as a nation.

3. Rizal is a hero above all. He fought for freedom and for posterity. His

writings reflect what Filipinos felt before as they reflect our sentiments

now.

In other words, making the study of the life and works of Rizal mandatory

is realistic and relevant. Rizal epitomizes what each of us really want: freedom

from the shackles of colonial rule and unity to bring us out of the quagmire of one

sided despotism caused by poverty, individualism and slowly deteriorating trust

to the institutions that may bond us if we so desire.

What makes the study of Rizal seemed unrealistic and difficult to reach is

how Rizal is presented in popular culture and more importantly with how he is

studied inside the classroom. Calling the course Putang Ina 100 reflects how
poor Rizal is discussed to the future of this country. Perhaps, we should not ask if

the Rizal Law is realistic. I, for one, attest that it is beyond any doubt. A more

important concern for us is the question of whether Rizal is taught in the context

of how real he is in the classroom and in the minds and hearts of the entire

Filipino nation. The drudgery of knowing Rizal and by and large the question of

the responsiveness of the Rizal Law as well as its concreteness all boils down to

the role of the teacher. The responsiveness and concreteness in the teaching of

Rizal will help break down the pedestal with which we place him. This pedestal

prevents us from knowing Rizal.

Rizal is human. At four feet eleven inches, Rizal is not a larger than life

figure. He is most likely dwarfed by the generation that came after him. What

makes him larger than life may be construed as the very reason why he seemed

unreal and out of reach. Rizal is real and the Rizal Law makes him even more

real. Like many laws of the land and like our Constitution, it is not a matter of

policy, it is a matter of making the policy work. Rizal right now is like the

mandatory teaching of Spanish in colleges and university. It is necessary in

paper but foregone in life. We have a choice. The choice is ours.