RIZAL
LECTURE \ MID-YEAR TERM
Lesson 1: R.A. 1425 & History
R.A. 1425
➢ Senate Bill 438 / Rizal Law (1956)
• proposed by Senator Claro M. Recto at Congress
and sponsored by Chairman of the Committee on
Education Jose P. Laurel.
“an act to include in the curricula of all public and private
schools, colleges and universities courses on the life,
works and writings of Jose Rizal, particularly his novels
Noli Mi Tangere and El Filibusterismo, authorizing the
printing and distribution thereof, and for other purposes.“
• gives the students and the future generations an
ample background and for them to understand how
Jose Rizal hands over his life for our country.
OPPOSITIONS ON THE BILL
• opposed by the Catholic Church and Legislative Arm.
1. In the 1955 Senate Election…
▪ the Church charged Recto with being a
communist and an anti-Catholic.
▪ the Church continued to oppose the bill
mandating the reading of Rizal's novels Noli
Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo, claiming it
would violate freedom of conscience and
religion.
2. In a campaign to oppose the bill…
▪ the Church urged their adherents to write to
congressmen and senators showing their
opposition to the bill.
▪ the Church organized symposiums where in
one, Fr. Jesus Cavanna argued that the novels
belonged to the past and that teaching them
would misrepresent current conditions.
• Manila Archbishop Rufino Santos, protested in
a pastoral letter that Catholic students would be affected
if compulsory reading of the unexpurgated version were
pushed through.
a) catholic schools threatened to close down if the bill
was passed.
b) Recto didn’t believe the threat, stating that the
schools were too profitable to be closed and would
instead be nationalized, wherein the government
would transfer them from private to state ownership.
c) the schools gave up the threat but threatened to
"punish" legislators in favor of the law in future
elections.
d) a compromise was suggested, to use the
expurgated version; Recto, who had supported the
required reading of the unexpurgated version,
declared: "The people who would eliminate the
books of Rizal from the schools would blot out from
our minds the memory of the national hero. This is
not a fight against Recto but a fight against Rizal",
adding that since Rizal is dead, they are attempting
to suppress his memory.
• The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines
(CBCP) submitted a pastoral letter to which according,
Rizal violated Canon Law 1399 which forbids or bans
books that attack or ridicule the catholic doctrine and
practices.
a) oppositors argued that among the 333 pages of Noli
Me Tangere, only 25 passages are nationalistic
while 120 passages are anti-Catholic.
b) upon scrutiny of the two novels by some members
of catholic hierarchical, 170 passages in Noli Me
Tangere and 50 in El Filibusterismo are against
catholic faith.
c) oppositors pointed out that Rizal admitted that he
did not only attack the friars who acted deceptively
on the Filipinos but also the catholic faith itself.
d) they suggested a reading material for students as to
what they called Rizalian Anthology, a collection of
Rizal’s literary works that contain the patriotic
philosophy excluding the two novels.
e) Recto and Laurel defended the bill and argued that
the only objective of the bill is to keep the memory
of the national hero alive in every Filipino’s mind, to
emanate Rizal as he peacefully fought for freedom,
and not to go against religion.
o Rizal, according to Senator Mariano Jesus Cuenco
"attack[ed] dogmas, beliefs, and practices of the
Church. The assertion that Rizal limited himself to
castigating undeserving priests and refrained from
criticizing or putting in doubt dogmas of the Catholic
Church, is absolutely gratuitous and misleading."
o Cuenco touched on Rizal's denial of the existence
of purgatory, claiming it wasn’t in the Bible, and that
Moses and Jesus didn’t mention its existence.
• On May 12, 1956, a compromise inserted by that
accommodated the objections of the Catholic Church
was approved unanimously.
o the bill specified that only college students would
have the option of reading unexpurgated versions of
clerically-contested reading material, such as Noli
Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo.
o the bill was finally passed on May 17, 1956, and
enacted as Republic Act 1425 by President
Ramon Magsaysay on June 12, 1956, Flag Day.
Senators Who Opposed The Bill
Francisco Rodrigo (former Catholic Action President)
Mariano Jesus Cuenco
Decoroso Rosales (brother of Archbishop Julio Rosales)
Groups That Opposed The Bill
Catholic Action of the Philippines
Congregation of the Mission
Knights of Columbus
Catholic Teachers Guild
Groups That Supported The Bill
Veteranos de la Revolucion (Spirit of 1896)
Alagad ni Rizal
Freemasons
Knights of Rizal
RIZAL
LECTURE \ MID-YEAR TERM

Lesson 1: R.A. 1425 & History

AFTER ENACMENT OF THE BILL 2. SECTION 2.

• after the bill was enacted into law, there were no
recorded instances of students applying for exemption
from reading the novels, and there is no known
procedure for such exemptions.
• in 1994, President Fidel V. Ramos ordered
the Department of Education, Culture and Sports
(DECS) to fully implement the law as there had been
reports that it has still not been fully implemented.
• the debate during the enactment of the Rizal Law has
been compared to the Responsible Parenthood and
Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (RH Law) in 2011.
o Akbayan representative Kaka Bag-ao, one of the
proponents of the RH bill, said, quoting the Catholic
hierarchy, that "More than 50 years ago, they said
the Rizal Law violates the Catholic's right to
conscience and religion, interestingly, the same line
of reasoning they use to oppose the RH bill."
3.
CONTENT OF THE BILL
1. SECTION 1.
Courses on the life, works and writings of Jose Rizal,
particularly his novel Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, shall be included in the curricula of all
schools, colleges, and universities, public or private:
provided, that in the collegiate courses, the original or
unexpurgated editions or their English translation shall
be used as basic texts.
4.
a. The Board of National Education is hereby
authorized and directed to adopt forthwith measures
to implement and carry out the provisions of this
Section, including the writing and printing of
appropriate primers, readers, and textbooks.
It shall be obligatory on all schools, colleges, and
universities to keep in their libraries an adequate
number of copies of the original and unexpurgated
editions of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as
well as of Rizal’s other works and biography.
a. The said unexpurgated editions of the Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo or their translations
in English as well as other writings of Rizal shall be
included in the list of approved books for required
reading in all public or private schools, colleges,
and universities.
b. The Board of National Education shall determine
the adequacy of the number of books, depending
upon the enrollment of the school, college, or
university.
SECTION 3.
The Board of National Education shall cause the
translation of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo,
as well as other writings of Jose Rizal into English,
Tagalog and the principal Philippine dialects; cause
them to be printed in cheap, popular editions; and cause
them to be distributed, free of charge, to persons
desiring to read them, through the Purok organizations
and Barrio Councils throughout the country.
SECTION 4.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed as amendment or
repealing section nine hundred twenty-seven of the
Administrative Code, prohibiting the discussion of
religious doctrines by public school teachers and other
person engaged in any public school.

b. The Board shall, within sixty (60) days from the

effectivity of this Act, promulgate rules and 5.
regulations, including those of a disciplinary nature,
to carry out and enforce the provisions of this Act.
c. The Board shall promulgate rules and regulations
providing for the exemption of students for reasons
of religious belief stated in a sworn written
statement, from the requirement of the provision 6.
contained in the second part of the first paragraph
of this section; but not from taking the course
provided for in the first part of said paragraph.
SECTION 5.
The sum of three hundred thousand pesos (P300,000) is
hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any fund not
otherwise appropriated in the National Treasury to carry
out the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 6.
This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

d. Said rules and regulations shall take effect thirty

(30) days after publication in the Official Gazette.