letter for the disagreement of rizal law's abolishment

Estrada, Erika Angela C.
De La Salle University – Manila
401 Taft Ave, Manila 1004
October 17, 2013

Hon. Villar, Mark A.
House of Representatives, Quezon City
Rm. S-107
Phone: [phone]; local 7206, 9316311

Dear Mr. Villar,

Greetings of peace!

I am Erika Angela C. Estrada, an Economics and Marketing Major from De La Salle University. I am concerned about the Congress abolishing Republic Act No. 1425 or the Rizal Law and I would like to address that I strongly disagree on abolishing the said law. In this letter, I would explain what really is Rizal Law, what was the reason it was made, and why I would not want this law to be abolished.

We are now taking up KASPIL1 for our second term for our first year, and according to our professor, taking up subjects about Rizal’s life, works, and writings are required for every student from private or public schools, colleges and universities which was specified in the Rizal Law. This law states that all private and public schools, colleges, and universities must include courses about the life and works of Rizal to every student especially his two well-known novels, namely: “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo”. The schools, colleges, and universities must only use the original, unexpurgated editions or the English translations for the said novels. The law also states that it is an obligatory to all schools, colleges and universities to keep an adequate number of copies of the original and unexpurgated editions of Noli Me Tangere, El FIlibusterismo, and his other works and biography. The unexpurgated versions of the two novels and Rizal’s other writings must be included in the list that was approved for reading in all private or public schools, colleges and universities.

It was originally written by Senator Claro M. Recto, which states that all school, colleges, and universities, private or public, were required to read and study the unexpurgated version of Noli Me Tangere and El FIlibusterismo and those who will not comply will be punished. This was the time when Filipinos were Americanized. Their sense of patriotism and nationalism was barely seen. Philippines relied too much to United States’ support. Through the implementation of this law, Filipinos would be able to realize that they were only following and manipulated by the Americans, and to let them know that there is too much colonial mentality those times. This law would awaken their sense of nationalism by studying Rizal’s life, works and writings, which will unify the Filipinos and it will make them fight for the good of the whole country.
Because of this, Recto was bashed, especially by the Catholic Church, which was his greatest enemy when he made the law, and was accused of being a communist and anti the Catholic Church. It was said that the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo contain untruthful image of the Church. So what they did is that they amended the law, and they had no choice but to sign it.
Indeed, Rizal’s memories and works were slowly fading away during those times. The number of his admirers was getting lower and lower. Probably, if Claro M. Recto didn’t think of reviving and strictly implementing this law, Rizal’s works, his memories would be dead as well by now. He won’t be remembered that much.
It is really important for a country not to forget their history and culture. They should treasure and learn from our history because it is possible that it will make this country a better one in the following generations. We should learn from the past, as a true Filipino and not as an Americanized one. This could help fix the imperfections our country have. Same as for the youth today, Rizal believed that the youth is the hope of the future. If the Filipino youth did not understand or didn’t know what happened in our history, how would they know the mistakes that happened in the past that they should avoid to do anymore in the future? There should be something that will motivate the Filipinos to fight for their motherland. We need something that will push us and we have to know why and what we are fighting for. The things Rizal taught us would help us in many ways if and only if we give importance or attention to it more. If we observe the things that he had gone through before, especially the moral values he taught in his writings, I think those are somewhat the same things our country is going through now.
Rizal is a good example of a person who is very nationalistic. Through studying his life, works and writings, we can see how important nationalism is. We can learn from him how to stand up for ourselves and not to depend on other race or country. We can defend our country from bigger countries who would try to colonize us again. We can get inspiration from him when we’re facing some challenges and problems in our lives. We can apply his moral teachings and values to be a better person and to be a better Filipino for our country.
We should strengthen the implementation of Rizal law because this could be the key to our country’s success. This could lead us to be one. This law, hopefully, can mold Filipinos, especially the younger ones to be better people and Filipinos. The values that Rizal taught us is really needed especially now because the younger ones are mostly losing their moral values. We should not let them lose their nationalism. We should tell them that they should be proud to be a Filipino. We should always remind them that we should not have this colonial mentality again because we will never benefit from it.
We could strengthen the implementation of the Rizal Law by encouraging them to take the course seriously and make them realize that this is really important. We should teach his life and works starting in elementary so that they would be able to carry the values from Rizal and apply it to their lives.
Please consider my letter, Mr. Villar. Thank you very much.

Respectfully,

Erika Angela Estrada