SKIRMISHER

Today’s 19 June. I don’t want to write about this now, especially since this is my debut. But the freakin’ historian in me forces me to do so… so I think I have to.

The effervescence of 19 June is hardly felt in these islands. Perhaps only his home province of Laguna (particularly Calambâ), a few scholars, and some concerned ancients still remember the significance of this date. Of course, the local media still commemorate it from time to time. I’m referring to my nicknamesake Pepe Rizal’s natal day. He’s no Methuselah; otherwise, he would’ve been blowing 145 candles today on a large Laguna-baked cake.

Dr. José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso was a damn SOB of a livewire during his productive years. And his death on 30 December 1896 proved to be the spark that ignited a revolution. That is why some pundits reaffirm that the date of his execution should be the day that we officially commemorate him.

But of course, like all commemorative dates, 30 December really has a reason to be highlighted in our calendars. But should the reason be on his heroism?

And what heroism of Pepe Rizal are we to speak of?

His thirst for freedom of the Motherland?

His fearless campaigns against the “oppressive colonization” of a “backward” empire?

Or is it about his inspiring and revolutionary idealism that he fought for for a new and noble Filipino?

Actually, all of this, among other things, are the requisites for his heroism that led to his martyrdom. And why celebrate the day he died instead of celebrating his birthdate? Naturally, there is a reason for this, which is rather vile, not to mention for its being WASPish, in nature.

Hey, this write-up is not to disparage Pepe. His intentions were kind, for they were for the welfare of his countrymen. However, his life and death were used by not a few hagiographers to venerate him on account of something else’s easy political and libertarian downfall: that of our ravished country.

To begin with, why was he executed? And what did he really fight for anyway? When we were still li’l brats, we were taught that Pepe fought Spain for us to gain our independence, and that he fought for reforms. But during that time, what do we know of or care about those reforms he had fought for? Nintendo’s Family Computer was in vogue back then, we were chewin’ either Texas or Bazooka Joe, the Tora-Toras were flyin’ high, and Bad Boy Robin Padilla was our national hero. The case of Rizal was a very sensitive issue. Thus, teaching it complacently to Filipino kids is, quite frankly, a lot of bull.

We must first understand that Pepe lived in a different milieu in an unfamiliar landscape, a totally different world, a Latino-asiático country which was then known as Las Islas Filipinas. We already know that the country was then under Spanish rule. But perhaps what most of us don’t know is that Imperial Spain was already teetering down. The sun, which Rey Felipe II centuries before boasted to have never set on Spanish soil, was already setting: Spain had lost much of her provincias de ultramar in Latin America during the 19th century. Worse, Spain herself was experiencing several civil wars, particularly the conflict between Liberals (composed of Freemasons) and Conservatives (led by the Roman Catholic Church). The Liberals, still intoxicated with the triumph of the Age of Enlightenment and the Masonic-led French Revolution, were winning the rivalry. Pepe, then a student in the Universidad Central de Madrid, was merely 21 years of age — he was virtually a kid like you and me when he was caught with the fever of liberté, égalité et fraternité that was still sweeping the “enlightened” countries of Continental Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. Consequently, and with further guidance from his Kuya Paciano (who was already a Mason), he joined the ranks of Freemasonry.

According to a priest-historian from the Congregation of the Mission, he joined Logia Acacia sometime in 1883 — a year before he started writing Noli Me Tangere. On 15 November 1890, he received a diploma of Master Mason from the Logia Solidaridad of the Gran Oriente Español. A year later, on 14 October 1891, he also affiliated with a lodge under the jurisdiction of Le Grand Orient de France wherein he got another diploma. He was also made an honorary Worshipful Master of Logia Nílad in 1892. He came into contact with so many higher-ups from different lodges — all of whom were, naturally, anti-clerical.

Without a shadow of a doubt, he was already a full-blown Mason when his first novel commenced its composition. And without question, the novel was inspired with the ideas Pepe imbibed from his illustrious brother Masons: former Alcalde de Manila Pablo Ortiga, his former college professor Miguel Morayta, and ex-president of Spain, the Catalán Francisco Pi y Margall, to name just a few. They molded his views and gave direction to his political thoughts. Most of them, if not all (which is impossible), were severely anti-clerical. Pepe also got his ideas from anti-Christian writers, especially Voltaire who had left an indelible mark on his then crumbling Christian beliefs. He gobbled up not only Voltaire’s works, but also the works of authors whose books were forbidden by the Church. These books are listed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books).

Upon careful analysis of this historical background, and upon strict review of Pepe’s novels (which are actually satirical a la Voltaire), one can tell that Pepe did not really fight for independence from Spain — Pepe Rizal directly attacked the religion of his childhood, the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the government/monarchy which supported it. There’s no need to argue the fact that he was not against Spain (otherwise, he would’ve written his final poem in Tagalog, which was never really his primary language in the first place), especially the fact that he’s against a bloody revolution — just browse over the climax of his second novel, El Filibusterismo, and check out what happened.

His trial and execution hitherto is mired not just with controversy but with mystery. The full details of his trial are still unknown. Several years ago, former ambassador to Spain, the great Filipino León Mª Guerrero, had been tracking down Philippine history in Spanish archives. Unfortunately, he found out that the vital Philippine records including details of Pepe’s trial, were in the army files. It was the rule in Spain (I’m not sure if it’s still the rule now) that public records, particularly those of controversial and sensitive cases, must be undisclosed until a certain period of time has elapsed. This is actually OK since this will prevent early historical writings that usually veer towards biased reportage of events. This is the case with books written about EDSA II and III, and how they screwed President Joseph Estrada (whether we like him or not, whether he reasons out like the beast of burden he had pushed for to become our national animal, Asiong Salonga is still our president since his ouster is indeed unconstitutional).

Thus, the only reliable details of the trial that we have now are taken from notes from Pepe’s first biographer (and ex-nemesis), Wencesláo Retana, and from researches done by Fr. Jesús Mª Cavanna.

“So, we will have to wait until a hundred years (or more) have passed… since Rizal was tried,” said Guerrero during one of his interviews (parenthesis are mine).

In view of the foregoing, it still is inappropriate to blame the Spanish government guilty for Pepe’s execution by musketry. But there have been speculations that his affiliation with Freemasonry has had something to do with his early meeting with death. There have been reports that he was betrayed by his fellow Masons. Some did testify against him. One of them was Pedro Serrano. Pepe and Pedro had a falling out while they were in Spain.

Pepe, by the way, said during the trial that he was no longer a Mason for a couple of years already. And the reigning Gobernador General at that time was a high-ranking Mason: military strategist Camilo de Polavieja. Did Pepe’s association with Freemasonry had something to do with the outcome of his trial and verdict? This is still under research by historians, especially the iconoclast ones like me.

To wit: Pepe chose to attack the Church not because it’s required of from a Mason, but because he firmly believed what he had learned from all the anti-clerical literature he hungrily read throughout his association with various Masonic lodges. Remember that Pepe was young when he joined Freemasonry; the idealism of youth tends to burn bright and with much fervent, quite incompatible with the known complexities of Masonic rituals and traditions. The youth’s intellectualism reigns supreme over the heart. Excitement level runs high, adventurism usually is either in conflict or in rapport within one’s younger self. The wisdom of old age bequeathed to the youth is pended in the backwater.

Liberalism sought political as well as economic reforms. But they believed that the Church is the biggest impediment to all that. And Pepe Rizal struggled to change it. But due to adversaries from all sides, he failed.

But his death won over him.

In 1901, during the American occupation of the Philippines, Civil Governor William Howard Taft (1901-1903) suggested to the Philippine Commission that the Filipinos should be given a national hero. From candidates such as Andrés Bonifacio, Marcelo H. del Pilar, and even anti-American Apolinario Mabini, Pepe went above them as the Philippines’ undisputed national hero. According to Civil Governor William Cameron Forbes’ (1909-1913) opus, The Philippine Islands, the American civil government and the Philippine Commission chose Pepe over all candidates due to the fact that he “never advocated independence, nor did he advocate armed resistance to the (Spanish) government.” What he did was campaign for reforms, appealing to the public conscience through his writings which were most of the times controversial. His writings rode on the high-octane level spirit that former Spanish colonies had had during their respective revolutions which earned for them their independence. This proved to be effective for Pepe since his ideas spurred the nucleus of the independence movement led by the Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, or the Katipunan for short. They’re the local version of the US’ Klu Klux Klan. Both used KKK as initials. And both have Masonic origins. The American KKK killed Afro-Americans. The local KKK killed Spanish friars. But going back to our story, Pepe condemned the KKK revolution. This he emphasized by siding with Spain when one of the colonies, Cuba, had an insurrection during that same period.

This is what America had really wanted to emphasize. They wanted to bury the sentiments of the Filipinos’ burning desire to become independent. At the same time, Pepe’s declaration as the country’s national hero somehow helped convince the Filipinos into hating their former masters, the Spaniards, since the former was executed by the latter. The true motives behind Pepe’s writings were deemphasized, i.e., his anti-clericalism. The US, which was just starting out to become a superpower, needed some additional ammunition from the Filipinos to be used against themselves. This will cleverly and safely uncompromise then US President McKinley’s so-called Benevolent Assimilation (which eventually wiped out 1/6 of the country’s population!!!).

Although Emilio Aguinaldo, way back during 1898, did declare 30 December as a day of national mourning, he wasn’t able to declare it on a national or large-scale level the way the Americans did. Besides, the Philippine Commission has had a very motivated member in Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, a creole who, ironically, came to loathe both the Malay and the Spaniard in himself. He was one of the first American butt-kissers, a “tuta ng Kanô,” who championed the cause of this oh-so polite language I’m now using (how translatable are the words “crap, pissed off, shithole, fucked up, etc.?). He also worked hard to eradicate all traces of Spanish culture from the Philippines.

So, from Pardo de Tavera to the 1986 Cory Constitution, up to the present pseudo-presidency of Gloria Macapal-Arroyo, it is as clear as the summer skies during April that the Stars and Stripes have never left us, after all. It still is waving mightily over our islands in the form of American Idol, Guess? X-Men III, Nike, Coca-Cola, local pornsites, call centers, Summer Institute of Linguistics-backed DECS and CHEd, Anne Curtis, English Plus in college courses (for what?), Taglish, and so on and so forth. This is all due to the apathy that Filipinos have towards their history, caused by Pepe’s very untimely death — and it sure was untimely.

Yes, if Pepe were Methuselah, our situation would have never been this way: third world, politically and economically (and even spiritually, you might add) fragile, restless, cynical. Well, we could have also headed the same way no matter what had transpired in the past, but it would never have been the way Pardo de Tavera and his Judeo-Masonic/WASP American allies wanted it to be. We’ll never know. But one thing is certain: Pepe Rizal would have never allowed such fate that we are experiencing now to have happened, just because our ancestors in the early 20th century believed that he was anti-Spanish.

In closing, no matter how screwed up are the reasons for the commemoration of his demise, I would still choose him to be our national hero.

Why?

For the simple reason that he lived and stood up to his ideals and his beliefs for the betterment of his countrymen. A truly selfless act. Mabini, del Pilar, Bonifacio, and the rest of the gang could’ve never held a candle to him. And more importantly, when he realized that the actions he undertook were erroneous, he still had the balls — and the humility — to retract them (the way he did on the eve of his death). That is worth emulating. And shouldn’t that be the main reason why a country should have a national hero? He or she should be someone we have to look up to. A country doesn’t need a national hero just because other countries have their own. We should not have a national hero just so we could hate our “colonial” past — the Spaniards are no longer here, so what’s the point in all that?

The bottomline is this: we need a national hero to embody not only our ideals and aspirations, but to embody a people’s sense of emulation, as well as identity. Pepe was a hell of a man during his time, and virtually transmogrified into an icon that he is now. But he shouldn’t be used to foment hatred against an actually glorious past. He is simply there for us to emulate.

Hey Pepe Rizal, it’s Pepe Alas here…

iFeliz cumpleaños!

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