The Foremost National Hero

RIZAL: FOREMOST NATIONAL HERO

By VR Samuel P. Fernandez, PGC, HA

PROLOGUE

The firing squad did not hit the head of Bro. Jose Rizal. The hole that one sees in the skull of our national hero was the coup de grace bullet. The Spanish government and the patriotic Religious Orders’ lust for Rizal’s blood brought about our hero’s destroyed skull. The bullet destroyed Rizal’s skull, but Rizal’s ideas destroyed a once proud empire. Coming from a place where Friarocracy dictated the political direction of the colonial government, Rizal found Spain enjoying a liberal government, Masonic individual liberty, religious tolerance, freedom of the press and of speech, separation of church and state and equality among men. Rizal’s writing focused on the abusive Spanish patriotic friars rather than Spain and the Roman Catholic faith. Rizal wrote his friend Blumentritt on January 20, 1890 thus: “xxx the friars utilized religion not only as a shield but also as a weapon; a protection, castle, fortress, cuirass, etc., I was forced to attack their false and superstitious religion, to fight the enemy that hid behind it. xxx God ought not to be utilized as a shield and protector of abuses, and less to use religion for such purpose.” Brave words! Such acidic tirade was inviting one’s funeral during Rizal’s time. Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere, a book that indicted the theocratic Spanish regime in the Philippines. This book followed by El Filibusterismo made Bro. Rizal a marked man.

MASONIC MEMBERSHIP

Rizal was a member of Acacia Lodge No. 9, a Lodge in Madrid under the Gran Oriente de Espana. Among the members of this Grand Orient were great Masons such as Pi y Margall, Miguel Morayta, Prim, Ruiz Zorilla, Praxedes Mateo, and other statesmen. Father Luis Viza y Marti, S.J., in a sworn statement executed in Manresa, Spain in 1917, stated that Bro. Rizal had “the fifth degree in German Lodges and fourth in English and/or French.” Austin Craig interviewed Doctors Tavera and Bautista who believed that Rizal had the

Rose Croix or 18th degree. Fortunate for us, we have the following extant documents on Rizal’s involvement in Masonry.

1. Rizal’s demit from Solidaridad Lodge 2. Rizal’s appointment as Grand Representative 3. Rizal’s diploma from a French Lodge, and 4. A letter informing Rizal of his election as Honorary Venerable Master of Nilad Lodge.

INFLUENCES

Rizal’s libertarian leaning was influenced greatly by his association with Masonic intellectual stalwarts. Grand Master Miguel Morayta was his professor. The good professor gave Rizal historical perspective and direction. Catalan Bro. Francisco Pi y Margall a close associate of Rizal, gave our hero political direction. Rafael Labra y Cardena and Sovereign Grand Commander Manuel Ruiz Zorilla, advocators of Philippine independence, shaped Rizal’s liberal and republican persuasion. With all the political immersions Rizal had with prominent Masons, he was ready to do battle with the patriotic oppressors and “destroy an empire” long before the fanatical religious and patriotic elements destroyed his skull.

TESTIMONIALS

Before the coup de grace bullet pierced Rizal’s skull, Filipinos and foreign admirers made him not only the greatest Filipino but the greatest Malayan hero. The Katipuneros led by their Supremo Andres Bonifacio made Rizal Honorary President. Not contented with giving Bro. Rizal the honor as honorary head, Rizal’s family name was made the third degree password of the Katipuneros. Bonifacio recognized Rizal’s leadership and brilliant mind. He and other Katipunan chiefs sent Dr. Pio Valenzuela to Dapitan to get Rizal’s valued opinion about the impending revolution against Spanish rule. President Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy issued on December 20, 1898 the first official proclamation making December 30 of that year as “Rizal Day.” Embodied in the same proclamation was the hoisting of the Filipino flag “from 12:00 noon on December 29 to 12:00 noon on December 30, 1898, and the “closing of all offices of the government” during the whole day of December 30. Before reaching Philippine shores, great men honored Rizal as a national hero. Justice George A. Malcolm wrote: “In those early days (of the American occupation), it was bruited about that the Americans had “made” Rizal a hero to serve their purposes. That was indeed a sinister interpretation of voluntary American action designed to pay tribute to a great man.” Rizal, an American-made national hero? A Taft-manufactured hero? Governor General William H. Taft arrived in Manila in June 1900. Bro./Dr. Frank C. Laubach, a scholar and a missionary who stayed in the Philippines for quite sometime debunked the idea that Rizal was an American made national hero. He wrote thus: “The tradition that every American hears when he reaches the Philippine Islands is that William Howard Taft, feeling that the Filipinos needed a hero, made one out of Rizal. We trust that this book (Rizal: Man and Martyr) will serve to show how empty that statement is. It speaks well for Taft that he was sufficiently free from racial prejudice to appreciate in some measure the stature of a great Filipino. It was a Spaniard who did more than any other to save Rizal for posterity.” Former Chairman of National Historical Institute (1971-1981), Bro. Esteban A. de Ocampo wrote with perspicacity thus: “xxx No other Filipino hero can surpass Rizal in the number of monuments erected in his honor; in the number of towns, barrios, and streets named after him; in the number of educational institutions, societies, and trade names that bear

his name; in the number of persons both Filipinos and foreigners, who were named ‘Rizal’ or ‘Rizalina’ because of their parents’ admiration for the Great Malayan; and in the number of laws, Executive Orders and Proclamations of the Chief Executive, and bulletins, memoranda, and circulars of both the bureaus of public and private schools. Who is the Filipino writer and thinker whose teachings and noble thoughts have been frequently invoked and quoted by authors and public speakers on almost all occasions? None but Rizal. xxx” Ferdinand Blumentritt, a dear friend of Rizal, believed that Rizal was not only a great Filipino but the “greatest man the Malayan race has produced. He observed: “Not only is Rizal the most prominent man of his own people but the greatest man the Malayan race has produced. His memory will never perish in his fatherland, and future generations of Spaniards will yet learn to utter his name with respect and reverence.” Former President of the University of the Philippines and Past Grand Master of Masons Rafael Palma, said it all when he exalted Bro. Rizal, thus: “It should be a source of pride and satisfaction to the Filipinos to have among their national heroes one of such excellent qualities and merits which may be equaled but not surpassed by any other man. Whereas generally the heroes of occidental nations are warriors and generals who serve their cause with the sword, distilling blood and tears, the hero of the Filipinos served his cause with the pen, demonstrating that the pen is as mighty as the sword to redeem a people from their political slavery. It is true that in our case the sword of Bonifacio was after all needed to shake off the yoke of a foreign power; but the revolution prepared by Bonifacio was only the effect, the consequence of the spiritual redemption wrought by the pen of Rizal. xxx” Rizal’s penetrating political and religious insights brought about the downfall of an empire. He did not use the mighty sword, but his mighty pen opened the minds of Filipino leader to their plight. Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim refers to Rizal as “one of the greatest sons of Asia.” (Philippine Journal, 10/3/95) Rizal is not a mere statue standing out there in the cold, forgotten and forsaken in our collective memories. He is the greatest Malayan hero. He is not an American-made hero as alleged by misguided ideologues. He is our foremost National Hero. In 1951, the late Senator Claro M. Recto said: “This time has come, therefore, to rediscover the real and true Rizal, and the best way to do this is to go back to the original text, to Rizal’s own view of himself, to Rizal’s own writings, for in them we shall find an accurate and full-length portrait of the artist.” Author and Rizalian Austin Coate said: “Gandhi spoke of Rizal as a forerunner and a martyr in the cause of freedom xxx The idea of modern nationhood as a practical possibility in Asia has been born, this was due to Rizal and constitutes his place in history. xxx The shot which that crowd (in Bagumbayan) had just heard was the shot which brought the Spanish empire in the Philippines to an end. From that moment (Rizal’s execution) Spanish rule was doomed. xxx By a single shot, Spain erected her own sepulcher in advance of her demise.” The coup de grace bullet might have penetrated Rizal’s skull, but his idea destroyed the Spanish empire. Poet Cecilio Apostol wrote:

“Duerme en paz en las sombras de la nada, Redentor de una Patria esclavizada! No llores de la tumba en la misterio Del Espanol el triunfo momentaneo: Que si una bala destrozo tu craneo, Tambien tu idea destrozo un imperio!”

(“Sleep in peace in the shadows of nothingness, Redeemer of an enslaved country Don’t weep in the mystery of the tomb The momentary triumph of the Spaniard. For if the bullet destroyed your skull, Your idea also destroyed an empire.”)

FRATERNAL LEGACY

Lodges named after Bro. Jose Rizal before Grand Lodge of the Philippine Islands’ Fusion in 1917: Rizal No. 22, Gran Oriente de Francia, Manila; Rizal No. 22, Grand Lodge of France, Manila; Rizal No. 233, Gran Oriente de Espana, Manila; Rizal No. 312, Gran Oriente Espanol, Lopez, Tayabas; Rizal No. 315, Gran Oriente Espanol, Manila. Lodges named after Rizal under the Grand Lodge of the Philippines: Jose Rizal Masonic No. 22, MD NCR-C Manila; Jose P. Rizal Masonic No. 270, Calamba; Rizal Masonic No. 20, Lopez; Rizal Shrine Masonic No. 434, Dapitan City.