THE VIEW FROM RIZAL
One of the unresolved “debates” in academic and historical circles – and even among ordinary Filipinos is this: who should be our national hero – Dr. Jose Rizal or Andres Bonifacio?
Several scholarly writers who have tackled the subject matter have done us great service by explaining to us the contrast between the two revered Filipinos. Most of us have already mastered the differences. Bonifacio was a revolutionary; Rizal was a reformist. Bonifacio believed in the armed struggle; Rizal was a pacifist. Bonifacio came from a humble family; Rizal was born into a family of wealth and means. Bonifacio did not enjoy the benefits of higher education; Rizal had access to higher education here and abroad.
Thanks to history scholars, their dissection of the contrasts has helped us discover and appreciate an important fact about ourselves as Filipinos: regardless of our status in life, we are capable of loving our race and nation, and of laying down our lives for a cause greater than us.
As heroes are meant to do, both Rizal and Bonifacio have also shown us what we can aspire to be, and what is great about.
Since we are celebrating the 160th birthday of Andres Bonifacio tomorrow, the 30th of November, we will focus on the aspects of who he was which we still emulate to this very day.
Much has been said about Andres Bonifacio, the revolutionary. He has been portrayed as the fearless, bolo-wielding leader of the uprising against the Spanish colonizers. He has been painted as an emotional person who could inspire his fellow revolutionaries to charge into the battlefield without fear of losing their lives.
There is another side of Andres that has won admiration. This is the fact that he was like many Filipinos of his time and today. He was at one point ordinary. He was a “typical Filipino.”
Consider these.
Like many ordinary Filipinos of today, he belonged to the “working class”. He was employed in “typical jobs” – messenger, clerk, salesman, and warehouse manager.
Like many ordinary Filipinos of today, he had “side hustles”. He was enterprising. He is believed to have sold fans, posters, and canes. We suppose he did this by displaying his wares on sidewalks since he was not well-off and probably did not have enough money to put up a store.
Like many ordinary Filipinos, he took advantage of the opportunities he saw to advance in life. He is believed to have learned English from his British employers for whom he worked as a clerk, messenger, and warehouse manager. He read books when he could get his hands on them.
And, like most of us, he knew he had to be industrious because he had to care for his siblings and contribute to the upkeep of his family. His biographers wrote that, at one point, he might have given up his studies to support them. This is a reality that commonly and ordinarily occurs in the lives of typical Filipino families.
In our view, Bonifacio is the hero of the Filipino workingman and breadwinner.
Like him, breadwinners work hard and have to give up many things that matter to them.
However, there is one thing they do not give up – they never surrender their dreams. While drenched in sweat from their labors and side hustles, breadwinners continue to dream big for their families. In Bonifacio’s case, he held on to his dreams for his country.
As we celebrate Bonifacio Day, we salute our breadwinners. We hope that they continue to be as “fearless” as Andres Bonifacio as they face the challenges of working in less-than-ideal conditions and making ends meet while holding on to their fondest aspirations for a better future for the people they love.
We also express the hope that the recommendation by the National Heroes Committee in 1995 be finally recommended.
That was the recommendation to formally and officially name several great Filipinos as National Heroes. The list includes Gat Andres Bonifacio, Dr. Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini, Gabriela Silang, Melchora Aquino, Sultan Kudarat, and a few others.
To this day, that recommendation by the National Heroes Committee has not been acted upon by the proper government body. In other words, the sad fact is that we do not have an officially proclaimed national hero. As we have mentioned several times in our column, Dr. Rizal remains today a “de facto” national hero. So does Gat Andres.
An official declaration would immortalize the memory and the examples that these great Filipinos have given us. In a way, the official declaration would also honor the many typical Filipinos leading ordinary lives. It would be a statement that our efforts to do great things despite our ordinary circumstances are acts of heroism, too.
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