The Rizal Law, Reimagined
First submitted as a requirement for PI 100: The Life and Works of Rizal
REPUBLIC ACT 1425, otherwise known as the Rizal Law, is a law that was enacted in 1956 to require schools to teach the life and works of our national hero, Jose Rizal, in tertiary education. This includes events and important details from his childhood, adolescence, education, sojourns, and his works, particularly the two novels: Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
According to the Act, there are four proposed reasons as to why the law was implemented:
(1) to “[re-dedicate] the ideals of freedom and nationalism,” (2) to honor the life and death of our national hero, and how his works had “shaped the national character,” (3) to “[inspire a] source of patriotism” from Rizal’s two novels, and (4) to “develop moral character, personal discipline, civic conscience, and to teach the duties of citizenship,” as mandated by the State (Official Gazette 1956, 1).
Now that I am officially taking this course, the first thing that could be noted is that, indeed, this is a very comprehensive course that explores and follows Rizal’s biography, a more in-depth and reflexive approach as compared to our Araling Panlipunan and Filipino subjects back in grade school and junior high school. The latter required us to read the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo as well, though it is rather shallow and less extensive.
In PI 100, we are not only taught about Rizal from the get-go, but perhaps it also encourages us to view his life in essence. It begs us to ask the question, “What do we do with this information?” which gives us a space for self-reflection as we look at these events in a larger perspective; how these events do not only define Rizal’s character, but it also serves as a way to unravel the layers of other aspects during the Spanish occupation, such as (1) the power dynamics between social classes, (2) the dangers and consequences of expression and resistance, (3) the importance of the press and literature in spreading information, ideals, and propaganda, (4) the frailocracy and the influence of Catholicism and on education, lawmaking, and governance, and many more.
Personally, coming from a degree program that focuses on reading and writing, PI 100 is quite inclined towards our interests, especially in parts where the course discusses Rizal’s literature, his early poems up to his novels. However, perhaps from the perspective of a Science-based program, for instance, I could imagine how burdensome this course might be for them, especially in terms of its benefits — aside from nationalism, how else will PI 100 affect the Sciences? How will Noli Me Tangere help with laboratory exercises? The connection seems too far.
Hence, this is where the Rizal Law might fall short as rather didactic, enforcing the students to learn things beyond their line of interest. Perhaps in this case, instead of instilling a sense of nationalism and patriotism as the law suggests, it might bloom into the opposite; students would grow to hate this course more and despise the works of Rizal. But let’s face it: the law seems too dated already, people know about Rizal and his works even before taking up PI 100, so what else is there to discuss? What could students from non-humanities programs get from these teachings? This “all-encompassing” way of teaching might not be beneficial to all fields, which is why it is vital to contextualize them instead.
This is where the importance of essence comes in. Gone are the days where the memorization of facts and dates was the sole determiner of our grades. It’s time to view this course as something beyond the figures, and see how it can be integrated into our specific fields, or how we can make these learnings understandable in our own niches. There are many ways to instill a sense of nationalism without actually teaching it didactically, the same way that there are other ways of teaching the life and works of a hero while still connecting them, in a way, to their line of profession and interest.
For instance, using the example of a Science-based course, the curriculum could focus more on Filipino scientists, or Philippine biodiversity, local areas, and concepts, aside from those from foreign or international ideals. Narrowing this down to Filipino sources and perspectives would already take a direction towards establishing a sense of nationalism, just like how Rizal became a scientist, discovering new species during his stay in Dapitan, and the way he treated people as a doctor in the same place. The same way Rizal began writing in Tagalog instead of English or Spanish; he would always go back to his roots.
The biggest takeaway for me as a student taking up this course is that, though the intention of the law is there and highly reasonable, one way we could further maximize its teachings is to compartmentalize them into field-specific aspects. Here, the students would still be able to get the essence of being nationalistic and patriotic like Rizal, but without the need to write poems, without the need to be exiled or study Spanish, without the need to publish novels — we can be like Rizal in our own ways, we too can be heroes, in our own fields and professions, and that’s what the Rizal Law can and should teach us.
