I think it was Ambeth Ocampo that said in a Rizal Day speech many years ago at Rizal’s Fort Santiago cell, (right after a prominent politician crooned about Rizal as our ideal national leader) that Rizal would never be a good President since he was too brutally frank and had a star complex. In fact according to Ambeth, if he were alive and playing politics, he would be shot in the Luneta again.
At this time of the year, bibiloaddicts like me troop to Nanay’s National Bookstore for its Cut Price Book sale. This biblioaddict is even more thrilled since many books are 70-80% less than the original price. Also at this time the bookstore introduces its latest titles (not on sale obviously) to the market. One of this is Napoleon ‘Leo’ Gregorio Almonte’s ”Rizal Is My President: 40 leadership tips from Jose Rizal“. This theme is isn’t new as Ambeth recalls.
So I browsed through this latest addition to what Ambeth calls the Rizal cottage industry I (which churns out books year in and year out). The 40 leadership tips are pretty generic enough, like studying hard, learning beyond the classroom, not accepting bribes, love of country, belief in God… Some are for would be martyrs, like knowing when to take the bullet and something for the present Malacanang tenant “how to say goodbye”. In all these are not bad.
But DLSU educated Almonte forgets the most important Rizalian leadership trait. Rizal’s had no qualms skewering the Roman Catholic Church and its religious orders for national liberation. The church must be disestablished for good if the nation will advance. All of Rizal’s ideology stems from this belief. Rizal’s science, art and literature aimed to remove clerical superstition that oppressed Filipinos. His favourite targets are the Dominicans and UST (read the El Fili) and unimaginative Jesuits sent from the Ateneo. Rizal skewered them all.
That’s why Rizal won’t be president. Rizal will have to confront religion. Rizal if alive today he would skewer 1) the CBCP, 2) Opus Dei, 3) UST and the Dominicans, 4) Born Agains like Eddie Villanueva, 5) The Iglesia ni Cristo 6) Father Ed Panlilio, 7) Mike Velarde and El Shaddai and 8) Jose Maria Sison and his CPP-NDF. Rizal would skewer just about everybody including environmentalists. Now how can Rizal ever have enough votes to be elected? In his only serious electoral contest, he lost to MH del Pilar for leadership of the Pinoy expat community in Madrid. Rizal if alive today would skewer overcritical hyphenated Pinoys and the Lord of Platform plez! Rizal was never politically correct.
BTW I think Rizal would be a bit kind to the Ateneo de Manila as we know it in Loyola Heights today. Ateneo is so heterodox and Rizal would applaud it for its stance on reproductive health. But the Loyola Heights version of Ateneo de Manila would be totally unrecognizable to Rizal. He would skewer it for the kind of intellectual rigor now existing in that university and if he would write another Fili, he can easily replace the devastating to UST “A Class in Physics” chapter to a more devastating to Ateneo “A Class in Philosophy” chapter. I wonder the kind of hilarious satire that a Rizal can pen on the Ateneo? As for the UP Rizal probably would skewer it for retarding national development and playing as a pawn to dictatorship. UP has lost its moorings for abuse of academic freedoms and a decreasing reputation in scholarship.
Rizal was too “kuripot” , won’t drink and won’t go into the brothels to be an effective Pinoy politician.
So Ambeth is right. Rizal will never make a good president. His intellectual heir and worthy ideologue was none other than Emilio Jacinto but he fell in battle at age 23. If he had lived longer then he could have been president of the independent republic. But by then the Revolution was being compromised by what we call as “trapos” today. Mabini may have made a good prime minister but ran afoul of the “trapo” dominated Malolos Congress.
But one thing is sure. Rizal was never a “trapo”. Can a trapo skewer the Roman Church, INC, El Shaddai etc?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Jose Rizal would had never accepted the Philippine Presidency. He did
not even join the Katipunan. He advocated for the Philippine
representation at the Spanish Cortez. The lawmaking body of the
Spanish Empire. He was an idealist; but not an active revolutionary.
He did not want independence of the Philippines from Spain.
Remember when the great Physicist Albert Einstein was offered the
Presidency of the new State of Israel ? He politely declined the
offer. He knows he is a Physicist, not a Politician.
If Einstein became president of Israel, Israel would be in knots in having nukes! We know that Einstein became anti-nuke.
Israel has Nuclear Weapons. Probaby fifty (50), or more.
That can be delivered by bombers, guided missile rockets, etc…It neither deny nor accept to have Nuclear Weapons when asked.
Middle East is a very Volatile Tinderbox for a Nuclear
War. Now that Iran is trying to build a Nuclear Bomb.
Pre-emptive strike by Israel against Iran may conflagrate our world into Nuclear Holocaust this century. We live in a very terrifying age…Middle East
is where the action is; because of the Politics of Energy like Oil.
i doubt rizal would have been made a “national hero” had he died a natural death as a filipino representative to the spanish cortes.
do you think benigno aquino would have been a “hero” had he convinced marcos to a “power-sharing” with him (which, i understand, was his personal mission in coming back to the philippines)?
The best “what if” question on Rizal if he wasn’t shot is this. Given that the Americans would have taken the Philippines anayway, would Rizal join the rest of the elite in cooperating with the Americans?
We know that Taft and the Philippine Commission dangled church and state separation, universal public education, an elected legislature etc. I wonder what Rizal would have thought of this?
If he were alive today, i agree that Rizal could never have become President. However, he would be declared a National Artist for his two novels. Unless….
Unless Pedro A Paterno was inserted by the Palace into the shortlist for his forgettable but still the first Pinoy novel “Ninay”….. LOL!
Blackshama,
Thanks for the thought-provoking article. The reason a straight-shooter can not easily succeed in politics is because he will undeniably cross swords with every citizen or interest group on some point, and therefore be criticized more and more. The shortcoming is not in the straight-shooter, however, it is in the citizen who believes his way is the only way, the right way, the patriotic way. It is in the citizen who cannot see outside his self-contained little box and grab a bit of perspective.
Flexibility and forgiveness are hard to find these days. Compassion, acceptance of those who are different. US. Philippines. No different. The divisiveness of partisan politics or personal animus is without doubt the main barrier to a robust, cooperative, productive global society. Ideology is another word for inflexible.
Anchors. We all have them, for the security they provide. But I think it is good to loosen the grip now and then.
As for the Catholic Church, it is not their failing to promote the beliefs of their faith. The shortcoming is in the government, when its occupants refuse to heed the constitutional mandate that separates the state from church, for the good of the citizens.
Rizal was good because he was clear-thinking and profound of expression. Who today in Philippine government is profound? I liken the family-based, power-wielding structure of Philippine politics to the mafia. But even the Godfather was profound (heh, citing that well-known authority Mario Puzo). Here . . . today . . .who? Estrada comes closest; perhaps therein lies his popularity.
Joe
why, because he can act? of course, he is an “actor”. how come he was “sick” all the time when he was in detention for over 6 years? after pardon, he is as fit as manny pacquiao. propound? do you understand the meaning of the word?
Hmmm, not to disparage our national hero, but if he became president, wouldn’t be become the first Pinoy womanizer to be president? He cared for the country of course, but was still fond of girls everywhere he went. Pinoy na Pinoy! hahaha.
Erap beat Rizal to it. But Rizal was Victorian. For example when he left Seiko Usui in Yokohama, he wrote her a verse. Now can Erap write a verse?
beers yes, but verse, no!
prof…this post is really interesting…masarap at masayang pagusapan, lalo na ng mga estudyante sa ngayon.
y’ryt. i’m taking Rizal for summer. LOL
we believe in Father Ed we believe that he wants to make a move to help he can be like in the movie matrix “neo” played by keannu reeves he can be “the one”… the one to crack up the political system in our country it is the only main source why most of us are suffering… He wont do what most politicians do you want to know why? Because he has this fear in our God Almighty and Gods commandments ones a person possess this traits he could become a good leader and a good leader leads to good governance… We believe in him…. may the righteous triumph…. In Jesus name we pray that he will lead the philippines to stop poverty, chaos and sufferings..
well, my opinion is quite opposing to those of majority. the way he(Rizal) was is because of the society’s status many years ago. it’s a lot different from now. he was quite a rebellious christian because of the treatment of early friars. if he were a modern Filipino, i don’t think he would be the same person as he was if he would run as president.