Activity # 1.

News Paper Article

According to Mario Limos’ news article Why Did The Catholic Church
Staunchly Oppose The Rizal Law? When the Catholic Church in the Philippines
found out about Recto’s bill, the church ironically, still views Rizal’s writings as
blasphemous nearly 70 years after the publication of Noli Me Tangere. The same
influence was utilized by the Catholic Church 120 years ago to keep Filipinos from
reading novels. The compulsory reading of the original editions of Rizal’s work,
according to Archbishop Santos, will have a harmful impact on students.

Nevertheless, as a student, I believe the bill’s sole purpose is to promote a

great understanding of our national hero’s role in fighting for freedom against
Spanish Colonialism, not to offend any religion. The very least we could do to
compensate for his nationalistic enthusiasm is to integrate his written works in our
academic learning. In reality, his works Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo
include a number of moral teachings on which we should contemplate. We are able
to see ourselves via Rizal’s works.

All things considered, we must be proud of our national hero, Jose Rizal, for
bringing us to this point. The people he inspired despite his short lived life that
awakened the burning desire for freedom from our captives, and the torch of
freedom has passed on to us, the Filipino people.

Feedback: I think that the activity is worthwhile to learn, and that there are a
lot of things that need to be addressed in order to fully comprehend the Rizal
law. After doing some research, I’ve learned a little bit about the Rizal law. It
wasn't an easy road back then because it went through many processes,
controversies and senate hearing before being accepted. There are a lot of
questions that need to be answered and I’m excited to learn more about this
topic because I believe it's an important part of our history and that it
provides insight into the life of our national hero, Jose Rizal.