Rizal to be honored in month-long celebration

A month-long celebration of national hero Jose Rizal’s death anniversary will be marked with leadership training programs, forums, a social media campaign and end with the reenactment of his remains’ transfer to Rizal Park from Binondo, Manila.

“We are inviting the public, especially the youth, to partake in the month-long celebrations. In the midst of our current struggles for good governance, justice and progress, we look back to Rizal’s life, works and martyrdom which greatly still hold relevance today,” Reghis Romero II, supreme commander of The Order of the Knights of Rizal (KOR), said during Saturday’s program to kick off the month-long event at the International Headquarters in Port Area, Manila.

Romero recounted how Rizal’s body was secretly buried at the old unused Paco Cemetery after his execution on Dec. 30, 1896. Through the efforts of Rizal’s sister, Narcisa, his grave was found and marked with his initials in reverse, RPJ, to evade discovery by the Spaniards.

Rizal’s remains were later transferred in an ivory urn to Narcisa’s house in Binondo, where it stayed until 1912 when he was given a stately burial in a ceremony led by the KOR and Masonic Lodge of the Philippines.

With the approval of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the 100th anniversary of the burial ceremony at the Rizal Monument will be marked with a reenactment to be carried out by members of the KOR in full 1912 regalia.

Also taking part in the various events for the month-long activity are IdeaSpace Foundation, Smart Communications, NHCP, the National Youth Commission (NYC), ABS-CBN and the Commission on Elections.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez expressed hope that the campaign would inspire voters to choose candidates with Rizal’s traits.

“We intend to foster the development of a new generation of voters in the Comelec who will make the teachings of the great hero so integral to their own lives that come election day, their choices echo the ideals of Jose Rizal not just because they say that they are like Rizal but because it is so part of them that choosing those who are Rizalian in character become for them second nature,” he said.

With the Twitter hashtag #justlikerizal, the KOR has also kicked off an online campaign to identify characteristics of Rizal that are worth emulating.

NYC commissioner Percival Cendana, meanwhile, lauded the KOR initiative to keep the conversation going about Rizal. “There are two timeless elements (in Rizal Month) that the youth shouldn’t forget and those are imagination and optimism,” he said.

While the social media campaign can help maintain interest in the national hero, Cendana said the challenge now is how

to translate these into actions

offline.

Other KOR activities for December include a conference to inspire participants to become present-day Rizals in working for social reforms and an awarding ceremony recognizing students who epitomize the Rizalian qualities of academic excellence and student leadership.

The 50th National Rizal Youth Leadership Institute Conference will be held from Dec. 13 to 16 at Teacher’s Camp in Baguio City with the theme “Buhayin si Rizal sa Bawa’t Batang Pilipino. (Keep Rizal alive in every Filipino child).”