HIS country absorbed him as affectionately as he absorbed it. His poems are easy to read, even to sing, to take to heart and put meaning into its ability to bring what is dearest to the human heart and taste.
Through murmurs of pleasantness, pains and wrongs, Rizal’s poetry sings of exceptional passions, of humanities jogged escapades into freedom. His poetry soothes and heals, excites and haunts, and embraces the nation’s soul. It has a kind of chemical solvent to social corruption, to an “archipelagic nation wrought by centuries of abuse, injustice and repression.”
Poetry often appears at night, wrapped in a dark and sad mood. Rizal’s most renowned “Mi Ultimo Adios” — whose exquisite music of a darker and sadder mood — speaks in authentic voices to and for the country. It was written in a familiar style of rhymed cadences about an amorphous subject (himself) in a strange brew of confession, prophecy and language of the soul.
He believed in using literature as an instrument for improving the conditions of society, to open the gates to social justice and benevolence. He didn’t believe in didactic homilies at the end of his poems, but rather, by teaching, reaching and charming together that literature itself can be an anodyne to profit, acquisition and utility. To push away a culture of moral blindness and rampant selfishness, he pointed out that the true greatness of a nation is, the greatness of the mind and the true glory of its moral and intellectual predominance.
In these times of globalization, Dr. Jose P. Rizal by all accounts was the first Filipino global citizen. In an age when travel for Filipinos was rare and arduous, Rizal was already leaving his imprint on several continents. He had been to Asia only for a tour, but did a surgical job in Hong Kong. He had reportedly been to the United States and Europe where the gem of his visionary words were developed and nurtured.
He immersed himself in European language and literature. Through translation and more subtly through an alembic process, he inferred his visions of a new country outgrowing its touchy backwardness and dependency in the familiar bardic traditional singing of legends and poems. He raised native themes and landscape into memorable verses and mastery of delicate versifications, constantly repeating the essence of his faith in the Filipino.
Dr. Jose P. Rizal was executed in Manila on December 30, 1896 by a Spanish Court and died as a martyr. His death galvanized the Filipinos to give birth to a new nation on June 12, 1896.
Aside from his exemplary medical acumen, he was also known for his linguistic skills, having mastered 22 languages and his proficiency in about 45 different disciplines. His democratic ideals stirred the republican yearnings of towering figures like Gandhi, Sun Yat Sen, and even Rabindranath Tagore. He was a hero as well to contemporary Malaysian political leader, former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Just like in many of our expatriates today, Rizal returned to his country, to share his rare skills and to serve his people. He chose an exile to Dapitan instead of freedom in Cuba.
While there, he revealed more dimensions of his genius—that of an educator, scientist and engineer. In addition to his medical practice, he ran a school for boys, discovered new species of plants and animals and built an irrigation aqueduct that to this day still helps irrigate the farms in Dapitan.
On Wednesday, Dec. 30, the Knights of Rizal Historic Filipinotown (KOR-HFT) marked the 119th Rizal Day at Kapistahan Grill in Los Angeles with a simple luncheon and exaltation rites hosted by Dr. Charlie Agatep for new members, and 2nd and 3rd-degree knighthood for the elder members on its fourth anniversary.
KOR Commander Arturo Garcia, assisted by Dep. Knight Commander Dr. Orly Cagampan, exalted new members, which was the highlight of the event. Among the new Knights of Rizal are Atty. Roman Mosqueda, Dr. Carlos Manlapaz, Fernandico Gonong Jr., Ramon Inchong, Dr. Arturo Flores, Lino Caringal and newsman Joe Cobilla. Sir Macky Fortu, KOR Exchequer, was exalted into 2nd-degree knight. Dr. Orly Cagampan, Deputy Knight Commander of KOR-HFT and Paul Julian, into 3rd Degree Knights by Western Region’s Knights Commander Sir Tony Berango. Berango also launched a book, “Jose Rizal’s Life in Poetry.”
It was a perfect time to remember Rizal in a celebration of independence and heroism, honoring his life as an educator, historian, sociologist, whose nationalistic ideas and writings from the late 1800s made him the Philippines’ national hero. It was his views on political freedom, education and independence that led to his martyrdom.
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