MANILA, Philippines — Dr. Jose Rizal is perhaps the only hero in the world who has the most number of monuments in different countries.

But to a greater number of Filipinos, especially the youth, Rizal is only remembered through his novels “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo”, or his most popular monument at the Luneta Park, or the one-peso coin which bears his image.

But that’s all there is to it.

And in spite of the growing awareness of Rizal through the works of historian and educator Dr. Ambeth Ocampo, Rizal still remains a lot less popular to the average Filipino than modern-day Filipino icons such as Ninoy and Cory Aquino.

Making Rizal relevant

Seeing the lack of media exposure, activities and awareness campaigns to promote his 150th birthday celebration early this year, a unique project dubbed “Rizal 150 to 150: A 150-Day Countdown to Rizal’s 150th Birth Anniversary,”
was formed in January.

Lisa Tinio-Bayot, head of BINHI English Literacy Foundation, Inc. and Rizal’s great grand niece (through Saturnina Rizal-Hidalgo) established this Facebook fan page in collaboration with the Juan D. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies of the Holy Angel University in Angeles, Pampanga to bring Rizal closer to Filipinos and generate more interest and participation in the activities of his 150th year.

The Rizal 150 to 150 Facebook fan page features 150 Rizal daily quotations and monuments from all over the country and as well as various nations abroad.

“The idea for the Facebook fan page came from various people of the organizing committee. The idea of a countdown came from Loi Ilustre, formerly of the ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc. The use of quotations was suggested by BINHI associate Peachy Avanceña. I suggested the use of monuments to further promote Rizal. Nainspire din ako sa mga quotations being sent on the cellphone. These are simple, short and people can relate to it,” recalls Ian Christopher Alfonso, historian, researcher, and administrator of the Facebook site.

Alfonso reveals that it took him almost four months of research before he was able to gather all the 150 Rizal quotations that he needed for the fan page from the 12 volumes of La Solidaridad and the articles, letters and essays of Rizal.

The tedious task of gathering the 150 monuments was also hard for their group but they were able to get 50 of it from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. The rest were pooled from the organizers themselves and eventually sent by various fans of the page whom they didn’t even know.

“Nung una kami kami lang din nag-kocontribute for the photos of the monuments and nagla-like ng mga posts. Later on dumami na. It was really providential as help came from out of nowhere, from the fans of the page whom we don’t even know. I believe social networks are really very effective. Especially now that internet connection is very cheap everyone has access. You cannot deny that the youth is running the show when it comes to social networks. I somehow knew that it will just be a matter of time before we hit an explosion like this but what I didn’t expect is to read comments of people saying they are still hopeful of the country and that it is still capable of redeeming itself from the social cancer that Jose Rizal clearly identified in his time,” says Jerome Tirona Bautista, a freelance web designer and graphic developer, and a descendant of Rizal through Olimpia Mercado’s side. He is part of the organizing committee of the Rizal 150 to 150 campaign.

Sense of belongingness

Alfonso adds that the bayanihan spirit truly felt alive as fans of the page who come from as far as Chile, Canada, Spain, Japan, China, Mexico and the United States contributed to send photos of the monuments from their respective places.

“We want the presence of Rizal to be felt not only in Manila, in Bulacan, Dapitan or Calamba kundi pati sa mga liblib na lugar such as Batanes. Nagulat nga kami sa Mountain Province may monument pala siya overseeing the Cordillera mountains. Nakakatuwa. At least para makita nila na iba iba itsura ni Rizal. May maganda at mayroon din hindi kagandahan,” Alfonso says.

He reveals that one Rizal descendant even criticized some of the monuments that were featured in the Facebook site, saying it was ugly and unflattering.

But Alfonso and Bautista defend these monuments stating that the objective is to develop a sense of belongingness among the Filipino and to show Rizal as a Filipino and not only as a Tagalog.

“Gusto namin sabihin na kahit gaano man kapangit ang Rizal monument na yan, kahit ulo lang naikabit diyan, at least ipinapakita ng mga bayan na ito na kilala nila si Rizal. You will see their recognition and expression of love for Rizal. It’s really about honoring the national hero in their own simple way,” they point out.

Unfortunately, Bautista and Alfonso disclose that up to now Dr. Jose Rizal is still not officially declared as the country’s national hero. The reason for this, they add, could be that many still don’t consider him as one.

Powerful Rizal words

The highlight of the Rizal 150 to 150 fan page which is drawing positive responses and testimonials from the youth and various people in the Facebook community are the daily words of wisdom or Rizal quotations.

“Maraming gumagamit ng mga quotes ni Confucius, John F. Kennedy sa status nila sa Facebook. Gusto namin ipakita na mas magaganda pa 'yung mga quotes ni Rizal, mas striking at very relevant even to the people today.

Among these are 'Why independence if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?' 'If luck is against me, let everybody know that I will die happy with the thought that my death has ended all their bitterness.' 'What good would the Philippines be without the Filipinos.' Napakarami niyang quotes. Ang problema walang magtitiyagang magbasa ng mga works ni Rizal kahit accessible ito,” laments Alfonso.

Overwhelming feedback

According to Alfonso, the Rizal 150 to 150 Facebook fan page has registered a total of 79, 000 views (as of this writing), and 77. 8 percent of this are the youth population with age ranging from 13 to 34.

“Malaki din ‘yung percentage of people who liked the page. We also get a lot of testimonials. One touching testimonial is from a Filipino engineer in London who sent his photograph of a Rizal monument in Carson city, California.
When we published it, tuwang tuwa siya. He emailed me and asked to personally meet me when he comes to the Philippines to visit. Then, he reproduced the photo he sent as a postcard and gave it away to his Filipino and British friends in London. ‘Yun daw yung personal commitment niya kay Rizal,” says Alfonso.

Some educators from universities in Visayas and Mindanao also expressed interest to use the daily quotations and monuments featured in the Facebook site as instructional materials.

A symbol of hope

“I was just envisioning that this fan page will reach only the highly educated, beyond average Filipinos. Pero ngayon even some schools are pushing students to do Rizal-related projects and they use our site as a reference material.
I believe nationalism is still alive in young people today. If you just give them the opportunity to be exposed to these sentiments on nationalism, their own love for the country will also grow,” says Bautista.

Through their project, Bautista hopes that Rizal will be the hero that the youth will want to imitate and idolize.

“He is really not far from us. He is a symbol of hope. I want him to seem like a neighbor a friend that you can imitate. We can do our share in our own little way by contributing to the development of the country and not by being second class citizens. Doon siya makikilala. Nakakalungkot lang hindi nabibigay sa kanya ‘yung air time kasi not all people Filipinos look up to him the same way, with respect, with dignity,” says the 32-year-old Bautista.

Alfonso, on the other hand, believes that the best way to get to know Rizal is by reading his works first before his life story.

“We want to show to the Filipinos na hindi na kailangan may mamatay tulad ni Rizal. Kailangan mabuhay tayo. Wala na tayo sa panahon wherein our motherland needs us to suffer and die for her,” ends Alfonso.

(For access to Rizal’s daily quotations and monument photo, visit or like the Rizal 150 to 150 fanpage on Facebook.)