MUSINGS ON RIZAL´S 111TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY
By Rudy A. Arizala
30 December 2007
Every year since 30 December 1896 up to the present, we commemorate the death of our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal. I will not, therefore, repeat here what he did on the eve of his martyrdom, why he was sentenced to death by musketry, how he was shot, what happened to his remains afterwards, and the impact of his death to the Filipino nation. Suffice it to mention here that in an old photo of the scene at Bagumbayan shortly before Rizal was shot, there appeared among the crowd a mascot, yes a pet dog on leash which look like the dog trademark of RCA hard disc record for a phonograph. Whose mascot or pet dog was it, nobody knows or ever found out or discovered. Definitely, it belonged to one of the onlookers, probably belonging to a high civil society of the era. But what was the name or identity of that curious onlooker to witness the execution of Rizal? That's for our historian or pet-loving readers to find out.
On this 111th death anniversary of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, allow me to dwell on one of the aspects attributed to him; that of his ability to foretell events or tell a prophecy. According to some historians, Rizal was a prophet because he foretold the coming of the Americans to colonize the Philippines and cited as their source of information an essay written by Rizal entitled "Filipinas, Dentro de Cien Años" or "The Philippines, A Century Hence" which was first published in the Filipino newspaper La Solidaridad, in Madrid on 15 December 1889.
Rizal wrote as follows:
"Perhaps the great American Republic, whose interests lie in the Pacific and which has no hand in the spoliation of Africa, may some day dream of foreign possession. This notion is not impossible, for the example is contagious. Covetousness and ambition are among the strongest vices, and Harrison manifested something of this sort in the Samoan question. But the Panama Canal is not opened nor is the territory of the States congested with inhabitants, and in case America should openly attempt, it, the European powers would not allow her to proceed, for they know very well that the appetite is sharpened by the first morsels. North America would be quite a troublesome rival, if it should once get into the business. Furthermore, this thought is contrary to its traditions."
From the foregoing, it is true that while Rizal mentioned the possibility of America developing an interest in the Philippines as a colony in the Pacific, he also expressed doubt about it because the United States territory is not yet "congested with inhabitants" to warrant territorial expansion; the European powers would not allow such venture into the Pacific by the United States; and such having colony on foreign soil "is contrary" to American traditions.
However, if ever such dream to have foreign possession on the part of America would come true, Rizal wrote that such attempt would be resisted by Filipinos even at the cost of their blood. Thus, he wrote and made his analysis on the future of the Philippines in the following words:
"Very likely, the Philippines will defend with inexpressible valor the liberty secured at the price of so much blood and sacrifice. With the new men that will spring from its soil and with the recollection of its past, it will perhaps strive to enter freely upon the wide road of progress; and all the Filipinos will labor together to strengthen their fatherland, both internally and externally, with the same enthusiasm with which a youth fails again to tilling the land of his ancestors, which has been so long wasted and abandoned through the neglect of those oppressors who have withheld it from him."
Rizal dreamed that with the development of our mines such as gold, iron, copper, lead and coal; the revival of our maritime and mercantile life, the Philippines "will recover the pristine virtues that are gradually dying out and will afresh become addicted to peace - cheerful, happy, joyous, hospitable, and daring."
More than a Century had elapsed since Rizal wrote his essay "The Philippines, A Century Hence." It is up for the readers to judge which dreams or predictions of Rizal have come true and which are yet to be accomplished by succeeding generation of Filipinos for which our heroes like Rizal have struggled, made sacrifices and died.
Shall we have to undergo another "Cien Años de Soledad" (One Hundred Years of Solitude) narrated by 1982 Nobel Prize Awardee Gabriel Garcia Marquez in his book before we attain a Philippines "addicted to peace cheerful, happy, joyous, hospitable and daring" dreamed by Rizal in his "The Philippines, A Century Hence"?
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