Thus, for Rizal Day this year, we shall look at some of the elements that made the Philippine national hero.

1. There are ten parallels in the lives of Christ and Rizal, according to the Iglesia Watawat ng Lahi and other millenarian and Rizalista associations, which are: prophecy about their births, miraculous nativity, sacred baptism, mystery and ministries, via crucis lives, establishment of a New Jerusalem, signs, Armageddon, changing society and nature, and Second Coming. [Prospero R. Covar. "Ang Pagtanggap ng Samahang Milinaryan kay Gat Dr. Jose P. Rizal." Larangan: Seminal Essays on Philippine Culture. Manila: NCCA, 1998]

2. The apocrypha on Rizal includes mutant powers (telekinesis), inventions (secret study light), miracles (multiplication of food in Pansol), superpowers (fireproof hero in Binan, vine-swinging in Calamba, waterproof in Dapitan, x-ray vision) and tricks (magic stick). [Alfonso P. Santos. Rizal Miracle Tales. QC: NBS, 1973]

3. Rizal was very much relevant in the Filipino struggle for self-determination. Apolinario Mabini who served the Malolos Republic as a high official deemed Rizal as "the inspiration of the present struggle" against the American imperialists. ["Rizal," June 21, 1899]

4. Rizal was still pertinent in the Anti-Fascist War Period. General Vicente Lim estimated: "Rizal had been very humble in his services for his country and suffered both physically and mentally. But the service he rendered to his people will be an eternal glory for him and the Philippines." [Letter to Bobby Lim, October 31, 1938] Lim was the commanding general of the Philippine Army in the Commonwealth Period, served in Bataan, and was martyred in the last stage of the Japanese Occupation. The Lims were townmates of the Rizals. [Adelaida L. Perez (ed.). To Inspire and To Lead: The Letters of General Vicente Lim, 1938-1942. Manila: Lim family, 1980]

5. Rizal has been viewed as a synergist, "the titular head of the Filipinos" who possessed the "power of soothing irritated minds, settling amicably discords and bitter enmities, bringing together in social gatherings men who do not even want to look at each other in the street." [Letter of Guillermo Puatu to Rizal, November 2, 1890] In addition, "the tact and persuasiveness of a Rizal is necessary in order that what we want to do for the common welfare of our motherland should conform to our desires." [Letter of Tomas Arejola to Rizal, February 9, 1891]

6. Rizal was a pistol-wielder. "As to shooting, with this I am sending you a cardboard with ten bullet holes. The board is seven and a half meters away from me. At a distance of 25 meters I put 20 shots inside a board 20 centimeters high and 20 centimeters wide. I go slowly, but through perseverance, I will be able to shoot fairly well and I will supplement with my will the few qualities of a shooter that nature has given me." [Letter of Rizal to Antonio Luna, July 3, 1890]

7. Rizal was an unbending politico-moral leader, that is, the "Responsible" of the Filipino colony in Madrid. "With my firm and impatient character I would have broken with everybody before allowing any regulation to be ignored!" [Letter of Rizal to Marcelo H. Del Pilar, October 13, 1891]

8. Rizal identified himself as the "author of the novel ‘Noli me tangere’ which combats the friars and bad administration in general." ["Ingratitude," La Solidaridad, January 15, 1890]

9. Senator Claro M. Recto who was the original author of Republic Act No. 1425 (Rizal Law) championed the Noli-Fili because he believed that the "reading of Rizal’s novels would strengthen the Filipinism of the youth." [Renato Constantino, "The Making of a Filipino: A Story of Philippine Colonial Politics," 1969, p. 244]

10. Rizal and Philippine intellectual traditions. "If there is any institution of higher learning anywhere in the world upon whose loyalty Rizal could lay a truly legitimate claim, it is the University of the Philippines. For this University, representing the apex of the free public school system of a free and secular society, belongs very properly in the Rizal intellectual tradition, which is the only tradition that could inspire and sustain the development of a truly democratic society in the Philippines." [Leopoldo Y. Yabes. "Jose Rizal on His Centenary: Being an Attempt at a Revaluation of his Significance by Professors of the University of the Philippines." QC: Office of Research Coordination U.P. Diliman, 1963]

11. World-class champion from the so-called Third World. Rizal was one of "those two great Oriental leaders" who were "rebel spirits, inconquerable wills" and who sacrificed many seductive comforts and "pledged their energies to the destruction of a corrupt society," the other being Sun Yatsen of China. [The Essential Tanada]

12. Rizal as the inspiration. Rizal, along with Andres Bonifacio, was the illumination for the original Partido Nacionalista upon its establishment on August 28, 1901 in Manila by Pascual H. Poblete, Cecilio Apostol, Santiago Alvarez, Briccio Pantas, Valentin Diaz, Macario Sakay, Aurelio Tolentino and other prominent nationalists. [Jaime Salvador Corpuz. The Poblete Clan of Cavite. Manila: Sampaguita Press Inc., 1997]

13. Rizal was conflicted. "While Rizal’s great contribution to the awareness of nation through his exposure of the oppressive rule of the Spaniards should be recognized with gratitude and admiration, this should not preclude acknowledgment of the truth that Rizal acted as an ilustrado when he condemned the Katipunan for being a movement from below." [Renato Constantino, "Export-oriented centennial," Manila Bulletin, August 10, 1994]

14. What is the real threat to Rizal’s legacy? "It is the youth for whom he had so much faith and hope that threaten to topple the edifice of Rizal’s symbol with their apathy and ignorance." [Caesar Agnir, "Rizal: Vanishing Hero of a New Generation," editorial, Philippine Collegian, June 17, 1959, p. 4]