Reflection on Republic Act No.

1425 or Rizal Law

The Philippines had an interesting history especially because it included how the
heroes of the country fought for freedom and showed nationalism amid the trials
brought by colonization. Republic Act 1425 is an official document which requires all
the schools in the country to include Rizal’s life and his works in the curriculum. This
is to somehow enlighten the students about the life of the national hero and at the
same time rekindle the nationalism that should lie within the heart of every Filipino.
The objective is to instill the knowledge about patriotism as much as possible and
they believed that it should start with the youth through education.
For me, this is a good implementation since most of the children in today’s
generation are so fascinated with the trend from abroad that they forget to appreciate
the wonderful things that can be found in our country. However, despite the fact that
this act has all the right intentions upon implementation, it also faced controversies
such as being dubbed as anti-Catholic. It is because there are contents in Rizal’s
novels which contradicts the beliefs of Catholicism.
As a student, this law made me want to go the extra mile in learning about
history. I am always fascinated with everything that happened in the past and this
gave way for me to understand more the value of independence and how the heroes
strongly fought for it. I have to accept and realize that this is already a part of who I
am and it is my untold obligation to study, reflect and apply all the lessons from
Rizal’s life and his works. This law will never be ineffective contrary to what other
scholars believed. It is because its intention is to teach us everything which took place
in the past. In a world dominated by technology and breakthroughs in Science, it helps
us to stay firm on our foundation as Filipinos. It intends to awaken the patriotism and
pushes us to apply the principles of Rizal especially in the recent problems that we are
facing today. It is not about the basic information of him which can be searched easily
in the Internet, but it is more of a deeper connection and understanding of what he
fought against all his life. For me, this is not just a waste of time and money because
this is implemented for a valuable reason and purpose and it is meant to be understood
by all the students like me who are still in the process of cultivating the persona that I
want to be in the future.
Imagine his peaceful means of reform which must make us realize that we can
still fight for whatever we believe without violence. This law serves as an avenue to
understand the vision of Rizal for the Philippines. He did not only write for the sake
of his time but he surely wanted to go down the history and make people in the future
understand what truly happened in his time. He is one of the great men who achieved
great things in life and excelled in his own way. Aside from the fact that he is the
national hero, let us not also forget that he exemplified the values of honesty,
integrity, and peace based on justice and patriotism.
He deserves to be appreciated and recognized through this law because he is our
national hero in the first place. His faith in freedom and reverence for its value is the
peak of his achievement which is meant to be understood by students like us. This law
should open our eyes about the truth of our history and should make us realize that
now is the time to become the new heroes even in our own simple ways. I believe that
it will start once we, as students start to truly engage ourselves with the life of Rizal
and not just joke about it. Rizal was once a student and for the record, he was
definitely an overachiever. This should already serve as a lesson to us that even the
national hero had to study hard first to learn the things that he used for his own
peaceful revolution.