CHAPTER 15

THE MAKING OF NATIONAL

HERO: THE CONTROVERSY
WHO MADE RIZAL
OUR NATIONA
HERO?
 One of those responsible for making
Rizal our national hero was no other than the
American colonial government, as proven by
Renato Constantino. “It can not be denied that
his preminence among our heroes was partly
the result of American sponsorship… It was
Governor Willam Howard Taft, who in 1901
suggested to the Philippines Commision that
the Filipinos be given a nationa hero.”
 In 1901, through the intervention of
Governor General Willial Howard Taft, Rizal
was voted as a national hero. This was done by
the Americans by virtue of the Treaty of Paris
signed on December 10, 1898. By this Treaty,
Spain gave the Philippines to the United States.
In return the United States would give Spain the
sum of 20 million US dollars.
THE NATIONAL
HERO DEBATE:
WHAT MAKES A
HERO?
 In the Philippines, there are three national
heroes: Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo,
and Jose Rizal. The debate over which one is
the true national hero took a turn toward Rizal
in 1996 when the international conference on
the revolution of 1896 celebrated the triumph of
Philippine nationalism by focusing upon Rizal’s
contribution.
 WHY ANDRES
BONIFACIO IS THE
NATIONAL HERO
 Andres Bonifacio was the leader of the
Philippine Revolution of 1896. He was not only the
guiding force behind the revolutionary organization, the
Katipunan, but he became a martyr when he was
executed by fellow patriot Emilio Aguinaldo. By 1998
there was a considerable public pressure upon the former
President Fidel V. Ramos to rehabilitate Bonifacio’s
historical image. This prompted an outcry from parts of
the Philippine press.
 WHY EMILIO
AGUINALDO IS A
NATIONAL HERO
 The triumph of Philippine independence is the
accomplishment that Emilio Aguinaldo’s supporters list
as his greatest feat. During May and June, 1898,
Aguinaldo’s military forces defeated the Spanish in
Manila and other parts of Luzon and the Visayas. On
June 12, 1898, he declared an independent Republic of the
Philippines. As the President of the First Philippine
Republic, Aguinaldo was for a moment a national hero
 WHY JOSE RIZAL
IS THE NATIONAL
HERO
 Jose Rizal’s role in the pantheon of the
Philippine heroes is a complex one. As the
intellectual father of the Philippine
Revolution, he became the symbol of
protest against Spanish rule. Since the
Philippines was an American protectorate
after the Spanish American war, Rizal was
the American approved hero.
THE NATIONAL HERO:
SOME CONCLUSIONS
ON AN INCONCLUSIVE
ARGUMENT
 Few Filipinos agree on who is the
dominant national hero. Yet, for all practical
purpose, Jose Rizal remains the major national
hero. There are a variety of reasons for Rizal’s
long lasting appeal to the Filipino
consciousness. However, there are four reasons
for the primacy of Rizal’s status as national
hero
- First, his nationalistic primacy is due to a folk belief that
Rizal was the “king of Indios,” or a “Christ-like figure.”
- Second, folk history suggests the importance of Rizal’s
leadership.
- Third, Rizal’s fiction is an important source of his
nationalist contribution.
- Fourth, Rizal had a sesnse of the future for the Philippines.
END