Jose Rizal remains relevant today—NHCP

DR. JOSE RIZAL. INQUIRER file photo

CALAMBA CITY—The life and works of Jose Rizal remain relevant even if these are more than a century old, according to the director of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) at a program here to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the national hero.

“Corruption, the absence of justice, our officials’ lack of knowledge and preparation for public office, (they sound) familiar, don’t they?” said NHCP chairperson Maria Serena Diokno in a speech in which she highlighted the fundamental ills that continue  to plague the country.

The event in Rizal’s place of birth capped the year-long “Rizal at 150 years” program of the NHCP that was launched on June 19 last year.

Delivering her speech in Filipino, Diokno focused on  Rizal’s works which she said were “echoed” in present-day society.

“I included them in my speech because we know there are still problems. Whatever situation we are in, we can always relate to Rizal’s writings (as) Rizal had seen them all before,” she said in an interview after her speech.

Simultaneous floral offerings were made at the five Rizal monuments in this city, which was followed by a brief program at the Rizal shrine.

Flowers sent by President Benigno Aquino’s office were also placed before the bronze statue of “Pepe,” the young Rizal, who is shown with his pet dog.

Quoting lines from the essays and correspondence of Rizal, Diokno said the hero had once referred to Governor General Valeriano Weyler, who led the Spanish troops during the Spanish-American War, as an example of a “corrupt official” who collected commissions from a public railroad project in 1884.

Rizal described Weyler’s wife as someone who “collected taxes and lottery bets under her husband’s office (and) made use of the expensive curtains from what is now called the Malacañang Palace for her clothes.”

The problems, however, should not all be blamed on a rotten system but rather on the people’s lack of a national consciousness, said Diokno.

Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar joined local officials at the morning program while around 5,000 students, city government employees and civil society groups later held a parade around the Rizal shrine in the city proper.

A separate activity was the “symbolic” 151-kilometer bike run of 151 Laguna police officers from  Rizal Park in Manila to their headquarters in Sta. Cruz, Laguna.

Laguna police director Senior Superintendent Gilbert Cruz said the bike run was “a simple gesture to show people, especially the younger generation, how great Rizal is.”