Jose Rizal, the perfect hero? Did you know that it was the Americans who made Rizal our national hero? In 1901 the Governor of the so-called Philippines, William Howard Taft suggested to the Philippine Commission that we so-called Filipinos be given a national hero. He boldly states, “And now, gentlemen, you must have a national hero.” “Taft with other American colonial officials and some conservative Filipinos, chose him (Rizal) as a model hero over other contestants - Aguinaldo too militant, Bonifacio too radical, Mabini unregenerate.”* Charles Bohlen, one-time ambassador to the Philippines, described Taft’s motivations like this: “Taft quickly decided that it would be extremely useful for the Filipinos to have a national hero of their revolution against the Spanish in order to channel their feelings and focus their resentment backward on Spain. But he told his advisers that he wanted it to be someone who really wasn’t so much of a revolutionary that, if his life were examined too closely or his works read too carefully, this could cause us any trouble. He chose Rizal as the man who fit his model.”**
There is no doubt that Rizal was a great man and was unjustly killed. But by elevating him to national hero, we neglect the other great men. In school, media, government and etc we hear Rizal this, Rizal that, until our ears bleed. What about our heroes who advocated independence for us? Rizal pointed out problems in the Spanish colonial society, but he did not want to drive out the Spanish. He never wanted independence for the so-called Philippines. That was the important factor because it would be a contradiction for the so-called Filipino people to advocate independence from the USA. He did not join Bonifacio and Katipunan. He was a conformist. He wanted better conditions for so-called Filipinos under Spanish rule. Taft also picked Rizal because he was already dead and he could not speak against the American neocolonialism.
Every aspect of so-called Filipino live is infultrated by our colonial and neocolonial past, even our heroes have become used against us.
*Between Two Empires by Theodore Friend, 1965, p.16
**Portrait of A Cold Warrior by Joseph B. Smith, 1976, p.283