19th century

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.
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. 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, Senator Mariano Cuenco and SenatorDecoroso 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