LP tells millennials: Be like Rizal

Here, a statue of Rizal in a scholarly pose is outlined against the sky at dusk in Intramuros, Manila. Contributed photo / JILSON SECKLER TIU

Like national hero Jose Rizal, today’s millennials should use their time and talents to show their love for the Philippines, the Liberal Party (LP) urged on Saturday.

“We urge today’s millennials to be like Rizal, to work for a better Philippines, free of poverty and fear, and where justice and solidarity reign,” the political party said in a statement to commemorate Rizal’s 121st death anniversary.

LP said Rizal, whom they described as a “millennial of his time,” believed that everyone has inherent, inalienable rights.

“He was 25 when he published ‘Noli Me Tangere,’ a novel that described the ills for the cancerous colonial Philippine society toward the end of the 19th century. He was 30 when he published ‘El Filibusterismo,’ the follow-up to his first novel that prescribed societal cures,” the LP wrote.

Even up to the time he was executed at 35, the LP said Rizal “inspired Filipinos to believe that they were capable of ruling themselves.”

In the morning of Dec. 30, 1896, Rizal was executed at Bagumbayan, now Luneta or Rizal Park, after he was convicted of rebellion, sedition and of forming illegal association, despite lack of evidence. /jpv

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