Why Jose P. Rizal is Not My National Hero

Don't get me wrong. Jose Rizal accomplished a lot of great things worthy of acknowledgement and admiration. And even respect. He is a genius, well-traveled, well-rounded, and world-famous. However, after studying about his life more back in college, I feel that our reverence of him is a little bit undeserved. Jose Rizal being declared as the National hero is just another proof how messed up our history is written. Glossing over some gruesome events (Fil- American war, other countries' occupations, EDSA 3) and glorifying others (American occupation, Giving thanks to Spaniards for “making us civilized,” EDSA I and EDSA II) in order to serve a certain group of people, more often than not the petit bourgeoise and the people in government office.

1. He is the hero endorsed by the Americans
   Yes, he was declared a national hero during the American occupation. Why him? Because among all the candidates, he is the one who is not aggressive and bloodthirsty and did not ask for freedom exactly. He is not the brave, I will die for the Philippines, fight for my people's freedom kind of hero. He, at most is a great writer of books which inspired Bonifacio and his Katipunan to revolt. So he is the perfect choice, the Americans didn't want us to get any more (revolutionary) ideas.
   
   
2. He did not want freedom from Spain.
   He is a reformist. He just wanted the Philippines to become a province of Spain and not to be completely independent from the Spanish rule. At best, he is, to use Leon Maria Guerero's words, a “reluctant revolutionary.” Oh and he wrote a letter during his imprisonment retracting all of his anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish doings. It might be because he was being threathened, and he broke under the pressure of his living conditions at that time, we may never know.
   
   
3. He wrote his famous two books Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo in Spanish
   No, I am not saying he didn't display his nationalism by writing his books in a language that is not Filipino. Let's think, who in the Philippines at that time knows how to speak, much less read, the language apart from the Spanish themselves? The illustrados. Did these illustrados bother to share with the indios? No. so what I am saying is, to credit him alone for a national uprising is nothing short of ridiculous.

Jose Rizal have achieved all of these magnanimous feats because he had the means to do so. He had access to great education and experiences. Maybe because of the priviledged life he was raised into, he was not able to clearly see the strife of the Indios and his idealism is not as radical as what Bonifacio and the other revolutionaries share.

*I am not a historian nor am I claiming to be one. If you find corrections to this, please feel free to inform me through comments. I do not intend to disrespect anyone, much less the memory of a great person that is Rizal. I only aim to make the little audience that I have learn how to be be skeptical before merely accepting everything presented to them as facts. This is because I am a firm believer that our understanding our history is important for our elusive identity and success as a people.