Republic Act No.

1425
Republic Act No. 1425, popularly known as the Rizal Law, directs all public and private schools,
colleges, and universities to include in their curricula courses or subjects on the life, works, and writings
of Dr. Jose Rizal, particularly the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The Board of National
Education is given the mandate to carry out and enforce the Rizal Law. It was approved on 12 June 1956.

[edit] History

Senate bill 438 known as Rizal Bill which was first authored by Senator Claro M. Recto - requiring the
inclusion in the curricula of all private and public schools, colleges and universities the life, works and
writings of Jose Rizal particularly his novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo - is considered as one
of the most controversial bills in the Philippines. Normally, before the bill was approved and implemented
in all schools and was signed into a law known as Republic Act 1425, it had been brought to the Upper
and Lower House of the Congress for deliberations. But what made it controversial is that the bill was not
just fiercely opposed by people from Legislative Arm but also by the Catholic Church due to the inclusion
of compulsory reading of Rizal's novels in which according to them, catholic dogmas are humiliated.

Senator Recto brought the bill to the Senate and Senator Jose B. Laurel Sr. who was then the Chairman
of the Committee on Education sponsored the bill that consequently led to exchange of arguments from
the Congress. The bill was headedly opposed by three senators namely Senator Francisco Rodrigo who
was a former Catholic Action President, SenatorMariano Cuenco and Senator Decoroso Rosales who
was the brother of Julio Rosales, an archbishop. Other oppositors were from Lower House namely
Congressmen Ramon Durano,Marciano Lim, Jose Nuguid, Manuel Soza, Godofredo Ramos, Miguel
Cuenco, Lucas Paredes, Congressmen Carmen Consing and Tecia San Andres Ziga. The Catholic
Church was indirectly included in the debates and played a major role for the intervention of signing of the
bill into a law. Allied with the church in battle against Rizal Bill were the Holy Name Society of the
Philippines, Catholic Action of the Philippines, Legion of Mary, Knights of
Columbus and Daughters of Isabela.

Oppositions argued that the bill would go against freedom of conscience and religion, 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. Oppositors argued that among the 333 pages of Noli Me Tangere, only 25
passages are nationalistic while 120 passages are anti-catholic. While upon scrutiny of thetwo novels by
some members of catholic hierarchial, 170 passages in Noli Me Tangere and 50 in El Filibusterismo are
against catholic fatih. Furthermore, 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. 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.

Of course, 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. Senators Lorenso Tanada, Quintin Paredes and Domocao
Alonto of Mindanao also defended Rizal Bill which was also favored by Representatives from the House
namely Congressmen Jacobo Gonzales, Emilio Cortez, Mario Bengson, Joaquin Roxas, Lancap
Lagumbay and Pedro Lopez. Other supporters of the bill were Mayor Arsenio Lacson call anti-rizal
bill "bigoted and intolerant" and walked out of a mass when the priest read a pastoral letter from the
Archbishop denouncing the Rizal Bill aqnd General Emilio Aguinaldo with groups like the Knights of
Rizal, Women Writers of the Verrnacular, Philippine Veterans Legion, Colleger Editors'
Guild and Philippine School Teachers' Association.

Excitement and intense scnenes were eventually arisen in settling the Rizal Bill. One of which was the
debate of Cebu Representative Ramon Durano and Pampanga RepresentativeEmilio Cortes that ended
with a fistfight in Congress. Bacolod City Bishop Manuel Yap threatened to campaign against pro-rizal bill
legislators nad to punish them in future elections. Catholic Schools Representatives threatened to close
down their schools if the Rizal Bill was passed. Recto told them that if they did, the State could nationalize
the catholic schools. When there was a proposal to use the expurgated novels as textbooks and put the
original copies under lock and key in the school libraries, Recto rejected this amendment and expressed:
"The people who would eliminate the books of Rizal from the schools...would bot out from our minds
the memory of the national hero...this is not a fight against Recto but a fight against Rizal...now that
Rizal is dead and they can no longer attempt at his life, they are attempting to blot out his memory."

Due to apparently never-ending debate on the Rizal Bill, approved amendments were formulated through
ideas of three senators. Senator Laurel' created an amendment to the original bill in which, other that Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, works written by Rizal and works wriiten by others about Rizal would
be included and reading of the unexpurgated revision of the two novels would no longer be compulsory to
elementary and secondary levels but would be strictly observed to college level. Senator Lim suggested
the exemption to those students who feel that reading Rizal's novels would negatively affect his or her
faith. Senator Primicias created an additional amendment that promulgates the rules and regulations in
getting an exemption only from reading the two novels through written statement or affidavit and not from
taking the Rizal Course. According to historian Ambeth Ocampo, no student has ever availed of this
exemption. After the revised amendments, the bill was finally passed on May 17, 1956 and was signed
into law as Republic Act 1425 by President Ramon Magsaysay on June 12 of the same year.
Reaction on RA. 1425 RIZAL LAW
9112007
Based on the Philippines’ vibrant history, the Filipinos are well-known throughout the world with their
sense of nationalism. Since the Spanish era until the latest People Power, the Filipinos had generously
expressed their ideals of their own love of freedom of their country. This certain noble love that we,
Filipinos, are proud of should always be remembered and practiced, and therefore should be taught to the
younger generations. For this reason, the Republic Act 1425, or popularly known as the Rizal Law, was
implemented by the State.

The Rizal Law states that all public and private schools, colleges, and universities in the country must
include in their curricula, courses or subject about the life, works and, writings of Dr. Jose Rizal,
particularly the novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. In this law, the honor of the Filipinos’
nationalism, particularly our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, is met with special fondness and devotion by the
younger generations during their formal education.

The works of Dr. Jose Rizal, especially the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, are excellent inspiring
sources of nationalism or patriotism in which the Filipino youths should also recognize and put into
practice. Since also in school, the minds of these youths are carefully molded with proper knowledge and
discipline. Therefore, in school, the enacted curricula, course or subject is also a way of teaching the
youths of being a good Filipino citizen.

On the other hand, minor occurrences have already violated this law. The use of the English translation as
an alternative medium is already a contrast to the objectives of the law. The law should also recognize our
national language and not the English language but this implementation may be difficult due to colonial
mentality and the recent issue of globalization. Certain primers, readers, and textbooks that are used in
certain public schools with only a few funds for good education had already edited the original texts to
different explanations and views that had led to a confusion or false knowledge to the students. But sad to
say, there is not enough implementation of laws that can control this problem in our poor country.

Many other violations of the law had been done and ignored. Adequate amounts of copies are not
available in public schools due to the massive graft and corruption of some public officials. Distribution of
copies of Rizal’s works that are free of charge to those persons desiring to read them is not also really
available in the Purok organizations and Barrio Councils throughout the country. I think that a revision of
the Rizal Law should be considered or, in a hard way, the law should be more strictly practiced and
penalized so hat somehow, or in some way, appreciation and recognition of the love of country is truly
practiced.

tilmuchtolearnaboutRizal’slifeworkandinfluence

Philippine Daily Inquirer

6:05 am | Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
As with many important realizations in life, my appreciation of the Rizal course I took at the University of
Santo Tomas came late. We study Jose Rizal to pay tribute to him as our national hero. He personified
patriotism with his self-sacrifice and martyrdom. In schools, his masterpieces the “Noli Me Tangere” and
the “El Filibusterismo” are mandatory readings, as it is important for students to know about the
oppression our countrymen suffered under the Spaniards during the late 1800s. I think that knowing
about the things that happened in our past—whether good or bad— strengthens our patriotism. And
(more) patriotic Filipinos are precisely what this country needs to lift it from what has been variously
described as its present state of “desolation,” “desperation,” “hopelessness,” “wretchedness,” etc.
Some historians’ interest in Rizal is so great that it has led them to zealously do research work on him,
hoping to share with the rest of us whatever fresh insights they may gain about his already extensively
chronicled life. Well and good, because if there is a national figure for whom we should have zeal and
whose mind we should probe, it is Rizal.
I also find rather effective the role that theater groups play to (re)introduce Rizal to the present
generation. In June last year, I watched at the Ilustrado in Intramuros the late Severino Montano’s play
“Leonor Rivera,” performed by the Philippine Drama Company and directed by theater luminary
Natividad Crame-Rogers. Though it centered on the relationship between Jose and the broken-hearted
heroine Leonor, I ended up being intrigued by the supporting character of Paciano Rizal. It was with him
Jose pleaded not to be sent off to Europe in light of his love for Leonor. Now I have my own researching
to do to find out how much of an influence Paciano was to his prominent younger brother in the context
of his being a “filibustero.”
There is much to learn and relearn about the different aspects of Rizal’s life and his influences. So I wish
our teachers, historians, researchers, archivists, essayists, playwrights and thespians all the very best as
they continue to promote our national hero among Filipinos, young and old. On this note, let me express
my wish that Rizal’s succeeding birth anniversaries be consistently celebrated with a lot of dignity,
enthusiasm, creativity, splendor and fanfare whether it would be the 151st, 152nd, 153rd and so on. May
we love our country more as we learn about Rizal more.
Mabuhay si Jose Rizal! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
—CLAUDE LUCAS C. DESPABILADERAS,

Biography of Dr. Jose Rizal

Who was Jose Rizal? On June 19, 1861, the Mercado Family from the town of Calamba in the
province of Laguna in the Philippines, happily greeted the birth of their newest member — a baby
boy born as the seventh child to proud parents Francisco Rizal Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora
Alonza y Quintos. They named the bouncing baby boy Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado. Being the
seventh of a brood of eleven, Jose Rizal Mercado demonstrated an astounding intelligence and
aptitude for learning at a very young age when he learned his letters from his mother and could read
and write at the age of five.
Educational Foundations
The Mercado family enjoyed relative wealth as landowners who rented the land of their hacienda to
the Dominican friars in Laguna. Hence, education was a priority for the Mercado family and young
Jose Protacio was sent to learn from Justiniano Aquino Cruz, a tutor from nearby Binan, Laguna. But
the education of a small town and a tutor did not sufficiently quench the young man’s thirst for
knowledge and soon, the family began to make preparations for his admission to the Ateneo
Municipal de Manila, in the capital of the Philippines.
The school was run by the Jesuit Order and was one of the most prominent and academic
institutions in the country which catered to the rich, the powerful and most intelligent students that
country had, certainly a place for a young man like Jose Protacio Mercado.
Studying in Manila
Prior to his enrollment in this prominent learning institution, his older brother Paciano Rizal Mercado,
insisted that Jose drop the surname “Mercado”, to ensure that the younger Mercado would be
disassociated with the outspoken and borderline subversive reputation of his older brother. As such,
the young man known as Jose Protacio Rizal enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila.
Being the child of a family of wealthy landowners, Jose Rizal decided to study for a degree in Land
Surveying and Assessment at the Ateneo de Municipal de Manila where he graduated on March 14,
1877, with honors or sobresaliente. He took and passed the licensure exam for land surveying and
assessment in 1878 but was not given a license until 1881 when he turned 21.
In 1878, after his completion of his degree from Ateneo Municipal de Manila, he pursued, his
passion for the arts as he enrolled at the Faculty of Arts and Letters for a degree in Philosophy at
the University of Santo Tomas. Although he excelled at philosophy, the news of his mother’s
impending blindness convinced him to study Medicine, and in 1878 he enrolled in the Faculty of
Medical Sciences at University of Santo Tomas to specialize in ophthalmology. Citing discrimination
against Filipino students by the Dominican professors in Medicine, Rizal left the medical program in
1882.
Believing that education in the country was limited, he boarded a ship to Spain with the support of
his older brother Paciano but without informing his parents. The ten years he would spend on the
European continent would leave an indelible mark on his personality and open his eyes to the world,
develop his natural talents and strengthen his devotion to his motherland.
Academics in Europe
In Spain, he continued the studies that were stalled in the Philippines and enrolled at
the Universidad Central de Madrid where he graduated in 1884 with a degree in Medicine, and a
year later with a degree in Philosophy and letters from the same institution. Even after the
completion of these two degrees, he still was not satisfied and traveled to France and studied at
the University of Paris.
In his pursuit to further increase his knowledge in his chosen field of specialization — ophthalmology
— he studied at the University of Heidelberg under the distinguished eye specialist, Professor Otto
Becker.
Recognition in Europe
Born a few centuries too late, Rizal could have been an ideal Renaissance Man, he was a polymath
who excelled at anything he put his considerable mind and talents to. The study of land assessment,
medicine, and literature are just a few of his known accomplishments but he also excellent in arts
such as sculpting, painting, architecture; physical activities such as martial arts, fencing, pistol
shooting were also where he demonstrated his prowess; he was well read could discuss agriculture,
economics, sociology, anthropology and history at will.
Apart from these, he was also multilingual and was known to have been able to converse in over 10
languages including Filipino, Spanish, English, French, German, and Dutch, among others.
Rizal was also a member of the Freemasons. It is therefore no surprise that wherever he went,
people were drawn to his charm, wit, intelligence and personality. He made friends and lovers
wherever he went and left an impression and reputation that would outlive him.
Foundations for Reform
Even as a youth, Jose Rizal had been exposed to the difficulties of being under the Spanish colonial
government, which had instilled in him the need for change in the system of how the country was
being run. Jose Rizal spent most of his time with his older brother Paciano, a man who had been
linked to Filipino priests, Gomez, Burgos and Zamora, who sought reform within the catholic church
by advocating equal rights for Filipino and Spanish priests in the Philippines. The three priests were
later accused of being subversive and were executed by the Spanish colonial government.
Even closer to home, Rizal saw the treatment accorded to his beloved mother by the Spanish
authorities who accused her of attempting to poison her cousin and sent her to jail in Santa Cruz,
Laguna. Teodora Mercado was made to walk sixteen kilometers from their home to the prison and
was incarcerated for 2 and a half years until a successful appeal at the highest court of the Spanish
government cleared her of the charges.
Novels
During his stay in first stay in Europe, Rizal wrote his novel, Noli Me Tangere.The book was written
in Spanish and first published in Berlin, Germany in 1887. The Noli, as it is more commonly known,
tells the story of a young Filipino man who travels to Europe to study and returns home with new
eyes to the injustices and corruption in his native land.
Rizal used elaborate characters to symbolize the different personalities and characteristics of both
the oppressors and the oppressed, paying notable attention to Filipinos who had adopted the
customs of their colonizers, forgetting their own nationality; the Spanish friars who were portrayed as
lustful and greedy men in robes who sought only to satisfy their own needs, and the poor and
ignorant members of society who knew no other life but that of one of abject poverty and cruelty
under the yoke of the church and state. Rizal’s first novel was a scalding criticism of the Spanish
colonial system in the country and Philippine society in general, was met with harsh reactions from
the elite, the church and the government.
Upon his return to the country, he was summoned by the Governor General of the Philippine
Islands to explain himself in light of accusations that he was a subversive and an inciter of rebellion.
Rizal faced the charges and defended himself admirably, and although he was exonerated, his
name would remain on the watch list of the colonial government. Similarly, his work also produced
a great uproar in the Catholic Church in the country, so much so that later, he was
excommunicated. Despite the reaction to his first novel, Rizal wrote a second novel, El
Filibusterismo, and published it in 1891. Where the protagonist of Noli, Ibarra, was a pacifist and
advocate of peaceful means of reforms to enact the necessary change in the system, the lead
character in Fili, Simeon, was more militant and preferred to incite an armed uprising to achieve the
same end. Hence the government could not help but notice that instead of being merely a
commentary on Philippine society, the second novel could become the catalyst which would
encourage Filipinos to revolt against the Spanish colonizers and overthrow the colonial
government.
Arrest, Exile, and Incarceration
Upon his return to the Philippines in 1892, he was arrested by the Spanish government for being a
subversive and for his reported involvement in the rebellion. He was then exiled to the island of the
Dapitan in the southernmost island group of the Philippines, Mindanao. There he established a
school that taught English to young boys, he worked on agricultural projects on abaca, a plant used
for rope, and he continued to practice medicine, eventually meeting one of the most famous women
in his life, Josephine Bracken.
Although Jose Rizal has repeatedly said that he advocated peaceful reforms in the Philippines, the
Spanish government were correct in assuming that his novels would indeed stir up a hornet’s nest
of unrest in the islands. One of the leaders of the revolutionary group called Katipunan, Andres
Bonifacio, had read the Rizal’s novels and had used these as a basis for the revolution. So influential
was Rizal that even without his permission they named him as a member and Katipuneros shouted
his name as part of the their battlecry.
With no wish to be further implicated in the revolution, Rizal asked and was granted permission by
then governor General Ramon Blanco to travel to Cuba, another Spanish Colony at the time, to
support in the medical efforts needed to suppress an outbreak of yellow fever. On the way to Cuba,
Rizal was arrested and incarcerated in Barcelona due to the political manoeuvrings of the friars
which saw Blanco removed from office and replaced by Camilo de Polavieja.
Execution and Death
Rizal was then brought back to the Philippines to face charges of rebellion due to his reported
association with the revolutionary movement. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to
death. Jose Rizal was executed by a firing squad on December 30 1896, at 7:00am, in Bagumbayan
(now called Rizal Park) and his remains were buried in an unmarked grave in the nearby Paco
Cemetery.
Through the years, Rizal’s works and ideals have been cited by many reformists, such as Jawaharlal
Nehru, Sun Yat Sen and even Ghandi as the means for peace reforms. As the national hero of the
Philippines, his works, are required reading for all students and streets, buildings, and parks have
been named after him and the 30th of December, his death anniversary, was declared a national
holiday.
Rizal’s Legacy
What made Jose Rizal worthy of becoming the Philippines’ national hero was not merely his intelligence, personality
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