A Hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble

qualities. And we, the people of the Philippines have a national Hero whose name is Dr. Jose Protacio

Rizal Mercado Y Alonso Realonda. He made many sacrifices and fought for our freedom by writing his

famous poems and novels. Revealing the truth about the abuses and the wrong doings of the Spanish

priests. Opening the eyes of every Filipino on what’s happening in our country. And that what makes

me conclude that implementing Rizal Law is very important. By implementing Rizal Law, we the youth

will learn many lessons and inspirations with his works. The principle of “the pen is mightier than the

sword”. And most of all, his love for his country. If all of the youth will inherit this kind of concern and

patriotism for the country, for sure we will have a nonstop cycle of dignified youths that soon will be

leaders of this country.

Is the teaching of Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado Y Alonso Realonda’s Life and Works course realistic

given the dangers and sensitivities of literature as means of communication in learning nationalism,

patriotism, and volunteerism? Definitely yes, First I would like to talk about the dangers and sensitivities

of Rizal’s literatures. Yes it has sensitive issues about the church and its priests. That’s why the church is

against in implementing Rizal law because they don’t want the church’s image get dirty in the eyes of

their followers. But I think we are old enough to know the truth and believe our own opinion about this

topic. In learning nationalism, patriotism and volunteerism we need to know the truth and what really

happened regardless of the sensitivities of Rizal’s literatures. Even though his works reveals about the

wrong doings of the church, it plays a big role in our history. It gives us ideas on how people lived, how

they are treated and how they fought the Spaniards. Also his literatures talks about his life, his opinions,

his ideas, his lovers and most of all it talks about how he loves our country. So learning all of this will

boost our nationalism, patriotism and volunteerism in this country.

How important are literary criticisms in the study of Rizal’s Life and Works? It is very important because

literary criticism can see the whole aspect of literary work, based on the critic used in seeing the literary

work. It is not only matter of how to read and understanding the work but how to interpret the text

within the work. Furthermore, criticism can be used to analyze and see things beyond the text, how the

work relate to daily life, social community and the relationship within the community. Of course, critic as

basic word of criticism is totally different with the review or report about literary work. Critics not only

talk about good or bad about literary work, not only talk about the weakness but also about the

strengths of literary work. That’s why the literary criticism is important in the study of Rizal’s Life and

Works. Literary criticism see the literary work from some point of views. For instance; social aspect,

economy, psychology, history, and philosophy. Those aspects can enrich our knowledge as reader base

on what aspect that become our focus because critics as tool for the reader to understanding what

literary talk about, what message that will be delivered to the reader. Literary criticism can improve our

capability in reading comprehension in order to understand broader about literary work. By applying

literary criticism in reading Rizal’s works, we will know what Rizal was thinking while writing his poems

and novels.

If given a chance to deconstruct one of Rizal’s written works (both well-known and obscure), what

would it be and what is its relation to the analysis and understanding of nation building? If I am given a

chance to deconstruct one of Rizal’s written works, it would be “Kundiman”. I would change the part

where he says “Magbabalik man din at muling iiral, ang ngalang tagalog sa sandaigdigan” or in English

“and once more round the world with growing praise, shall sound the name of the tagalog race”.

Because he used the word “tagalog”, he could have used the word “Filipinos”. He only thought about

the tagalogs, not the entirety of the Philippine citizen which makes me sad, especially because I’m not a

tagalog and I live in Mindanao. And because of that I feel left out. I feel like tagalogs are superior than

someone who did not live in Luzon. If it was changed in to that, it will be more patriotic because we are
involving not only the tagalogs, but all the Filipino citizens. The discrimination to the Bisaya’s will be

stopped or lessen and we will be more united than ever. Being united as one is a key factor in nation

building simply because there will be no conflicts and we will understand each other more.

My overall conclusion, It is important to study the life of Dr. Jose Rizal because of his input towards the

independence of Philippines. He chose to fight for his country through knowledge and the power of

letters. He noticed the continued suffering of his countrymen at the hands of the Spaniards and sought

to put an end to this situation. He decided to improve on his personal studies to acquire knowledge that

he would later on pass to his people through novels and poems. His famous novels the “Noli Me

Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” pointed out the issues that the true citizens of Philippines faced under

Spanish rule and the need to take decisive action to liberate them from oppression. His actions

resonated well with that of his countrymen and eventually the people decided to rise up and defend

their rights and freedom.

I would also like to thank all of the Philippine heroes that fought for our freedom that we are enjoying

right now. If not for them, we will still be absolutely slaves from other countries and limits our freedom

and rights. And to all who is going to take the course Rizal’s Life and works, let us appreciate the

sacrifices of our national hero and put it in our hearts that the sacrifices he made is for the betterment

of our country. And I hope we will not disappoint Dr. Jose Rizal and regret his decision in offering his life

for our country and its citizens. That is all, thank you!