Victor’s papers

By Gemma Cruz Araneta

Published November 39, 2016, 10:00 pm

Last December 2015, I felt an urge to attend the “National Conference on Teaching the Rizal Course” convened by the
Philippine Historical Association. I was curious, if not apprehensive, about how Rizal is being taught to generations of young
Filipinos, 70 years after the contentious Recto bill was signed into law, Republic Act 1425 (Rizal Law), by President Ramon
Magsaysay, on 12 June 1956. (It might be worthwhile to mention that in those days, the level of discourse in Congress was
loftier.) The writings of Rizal specially the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo (unexpurgated versions) became
compulsory reading for all public and private schools. To my dismay, there was no Rizal Course in my convent school,
Maryknoll College; our dean, an American nun, read a paper about Rizal during a student assembly, and that was it. What I
now know about Jose Rizal, I learnt on my own; it is a never-ending endeavor.

During the sesquicentennial of Jose Rizal, bands of students would appear at Manila City Hall (where I worked) to interview
me about our national hero. I felt they were not really interested but were hard-pressed to beat deadlines of group projects and
term papers, so what easier way than to interview a descendant of Rizal?
Quite frankly, I was appalled by the shallowness of their queries. The only concern of those young people, the hope of the
Fatherland, was the women in Rizal’s life. They insisted that I give them a list of names and reveal whom Rizal loved
best. Perfunctorily, they would ask if he married J. Bracken, or if he retracted and, the most absurd question of all was about
his being the father of Adolf Hitler. That gave me a disquieting glimpse of how the Rizal Law was being implemented.

On the last day of Rizal’s sesquicentennial, my nephew and I were walking down Rizal park after the solemn flag-raising and
wreath-laying ceremonies when, suddenly, an aged vagrant, who had probably spent the night in the park, emerged from the
leafy glade where Blumentritt’s bust is located. Wide-eyed, he gazed at the gigantic flag, which was at half-mast and loudly
asked, addressing no one in particular — “O, bakit naka ganyan ang bandera?” I felt obliged to tell him that we were
commemorating Rizal’s martyrdom. He looked at us, made a curt about-face, walked away while shouting repeatedly, at the
top of his voice, “Gago talaga ang mga Filipino, hindi sinusunod ang mga utos ni Rizal!” Could he have taken a Rizal course
in his youth?

That was why I attended that national conference of teachers of the Rizal Course;I wanted to know about the pedagogical
approaches, sources and reference materials available, the impact of new technology on research and scholarship, the syllabus
crafted and used by teachers.

I met Dr. Jose Victor Torres in that conference. He presented “A la Juventud de Filibusteros” which re-examines
contemporaryinterpretations of El Filibusterismo. Dr. Torres said Rizal’s second novel is often thought to be anti-revolution,
an assertion with which he does not quite agree. He expounded about Rizal’s idea of a revolution as discussed by various
characters in the novel and pointed out that Rizal espoused “a bloodless revolution of change which involved the
educational system.” In this sense, the students were the true “filibusteros,” not the sinister Simoun.

At a conference sponsored by the Philippine National Historical Society in Bacolod City, Dr. Torres read an elucidating paper,
“Telégrafo, Electricidad, y Poste de Luz,” about the “inventions” or “new technologies”which had an impact on Rizal’s life
and works. It was a creative way of “humanizing” Rizal, hermeneutically at that, by placing him in proper context and
latitude.

Another riveting paper of Dr. Torres is “Escandaloso, horrendo y punible delito” which reveals that the tragic events in Noli
Me Tangere were not just figments of Rizal’s imagination; these were based on incidents that really took place. For example,
Maria Clara’s mad scene in the Noli was based on a news item that Rizal saw in a local newspaper, about two Intramuros
guards who saw a crazed nun on the roof of a convent, one stormy night.

Dr. Torres has compiled six of his scholarly papers in a book titled What Capitan Tiago Served and Padre Damaso Ate: Essays
on Jose Rizal and His Times. This book will be invaluable for both students and teachers of the Rizal Course.

Seventy years after the passage of the controversial Republic Act 1425, there is genuine concern about strengthening its
relevance. With dedicated academics like Dr Jose Victor Torres, the Rizal Course is in good hands.

(ggc1898@gmail.com)
https://news.mb.com.ph/2016/11/30/victors-papers/