CHAPTER 10: JOSE RIZAL

AND PHILIPPINE
NATIONALISM: BAYANI AND
KABAYANIHAN
• As a man of education, he highly regarded
academic execellence, logical and critical
thinking, philosophical and scientific inquiry, and
cultural research.
• As a person, he valued respect for parents, love
for siblings, and loyalty to friends, and maintained
a sense of chivalry.
• As a Filipino, he valued nationalism, patriotism,
and heroism (or kabayanihan)
Bayani vs. Hero
• The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines
"hero" as "a mythological or legendary figure
often of divine descent endowed with great
strength or ability;
• an illustrious warrior; a person admired for
achievements and noble qualities;
• one who shows great courage.
The Vicassan's Dictionary (Santos, 1978) provides
the following meanings for bayani:
• "... hero, patriot ("taong makabayan"),
cooperative endeavor, mutual aid, a person who
volunteers or offers free service or labor to a
cooperative endeavor, to prevail, to be
victorious, to prevail ("mamayani"), leading man
in play (often referred to as the "bida"--from the
Spanish for life, "vida"--who is contrasted with the
villain or "kontrabida" from the Spanish "contra
vida", against life)
UP Diksiyonariyong Filipino (2001) gives three
meanings for 'bayani':
(a) a person of extraordinary courage or ability;
(b) a person considered to possess extraordinary
talents or someone who did something noble
("dakila");
(c) a leading man in a play (Ocampo, 2016)
The Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala by the
Jesuits Juan de Noceda and Pedro de Sanlucar
(1755 &1860) lists these meanings for bayani:
• "someone who is brave or valiant, someone
who works towards a common task or
cooperative endeavor ("bayanihan") ( as cited in
Ocampo, 2016)
• History professor Ambeth Ocampo sees it
significant that bayani comes a few words under
bayan, which is also defined as: "the space
between here and the sky"
• Bayan is also a town, municipality, pueblo, or nation,
and can refer to people and citizens (mamamayan)
who live in those communities, or those who originate or
come from the same place (kababayan)
• Bayan also refers to the day (araw) or a time of a day
(malalim ang bayan) or even to the weather, good or
bad (masamang bayan) (Ocampo, 2016)
• Ocampo, thus, concludes that "hero" and bayani do
not have the same meaning. Bayani is a richer word
than hero because it may be rooted in bayan as place
or in doing something great, not for oneself but for a
greater good, for community or nation.
The Changing Forms and Definitions
of Bayani and Kabayanihan
◦ Especially when anchored on the definitions given by
old dictionaries, mga bayani may historically (and
profoundly) refer to those who contributed to the birth
of a nation.
◦ However, the modern-day bayani may refer to
someone who contributes to a nation in a global world.
◦One case in point is our Overseas Filipino Workers
( OFWs)—Filipinos who are working in foreign
countries.
◦They basically travel abroad in pursuit of better
employment to provide for the needs of their
respective families in the Philippines.
◦OFWs are often referred to as mga bagong
bayani
◦Working abroad is a form of taking risks
(pakikipagsapalaran)
◦OFWs play a vital role in the progress of the
Philippines’ economic status.
◦In recogition in their contributions to the national
economy, OFWs are thus, called “Bagong
Bayani” (Modern-Day Heroes) and the
Philippines celebrates December as the Month
of Overseas Filipino Workers.
Filipino historian and Pantayong Pananaw proponent Dr.
Zeus A. Salazar offers another sense of the term bayani
and believes that mga bayani are different from
“heroes”.
◦ For him, “ang mga bayani ay mga taong naglalakbay
at bumabalik sa bayan… ang mga bayani ay
lumalaban ng may kooperasyon [samantalang] ang
mga hero ( western concept) ay lumalaban mag-isa…
Ang bayani ay hindi kailangang mamatay upang
maging bayani, kailangan niya lang gumawa ng ng
magagandang impluwensya at mga gawain sa bayan
upang tawaging bayani” (Ang Salitang Bayani sa
Pilipinas,” n.d.)