Rizal Day red alert

One Sunday ago, our nation observed the 113th Independence Day. It passed without so much fanfare and the usual hoopla of past celebrations. It was the first Independence Day celebration under the administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Unfortunately, there was nothing in the Independence Day program that made the celebration memorable. Even the speech of P-Noy for that one glorious moment in our country’s history was forgettable. Neither was there much effort on the part of the government to drum up public interest and attention days, or even weeks, prior to the 113th anniversary of Philippine Independence.

The only indication that we celebrated our Freedom Day was the traditional simultaneous flag-raising rites in various parts of the country. President Aquino led the rites at the Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, Cavite right on the balcony where Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo – as the Republic’s first President – supposedly first raised the Philippine tricolor.

It was former President Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) who started this tradition in Kawit when we celebrated our Independence Centennial in 1998. In the past, the main flag-raising ceremony led by the President used to be held in front of the monument of our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, in Luneta.

It was quite sad though that this year’s Independence Day celebration was discernibly not given its due importance. I gathered it was the National Historical Institute (NHI) that took charge of the organizing committee of government agencies assigned to come up with commemorative activities for this year’s Independence Day.

Unlike Independence Day, there has been more intensified publicity to drum up attention to the 150th birth anniversary of Rizal. Since Rizal’s birth anniversary fell on a Sunday, Malacañang Palace even declared June 20, today, a special non-working holiday throughout the country through Proclamation 154.

Thus, schools and offices are enjoying today the last day of their long weekend, popularly called “holiday economics.” This refers to the Congress-approved law on movable dates of official holidays to either Monday or Friday to enable the people to enjoy a long weekend to go out of town or engage in other activities to spur the economy and domestic tourism. The movable dates of official holidays do not apply to religious holidays like Lent, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

A non-believer of the previous administration’s “holiday economics,” President Aquino issued Proclamation 154, upon the NHI’s recommendation, declaring June 20 a special non-working holiday to celebrate the sesquicentennial of Rizal’s birth instead of the actual birth date of June 19, which fell on a Sunday this year.

Maverick Senator Joker Arroyo used to needle P-Noy for this turnabout on “holiday economics” when the latter, as senator of the 14th Congress, voted in favor of its passage into law. But P-Noy earned brownie points from foreign and local business groups for abandoning the “holiday economics” policy in favor of productivity as this resulted in the loss of lesser man-hours and lower labor costs for overtime pay.

Meanwhile, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has proposed to move the national observance of Rizal Day from Dec. 30 to June 19 through Senate Bill 2743. For the young Marcos, it is now the right time to set historical records and significance by paying tribute to Rizal on his birth anniversary and not on the day he was killed and martyred during the Spanish rule in the country.

“It is fitting then that Filipinos commemorate Rizal Day on June 19 as a day of triumph of his nationalism and patriotic ideals,” Senator Marcos pointed out. His bill though has stirred a hornet’s nest, so to speak, among Rizalistas and nationalists who naturally balked at his proposal.

By whatever date we honor the memories of our country’s national hero, Filipinos regard Rizal as the most “genuine” among Philippine heroes. In the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted last March 4 to 7, majority or 75 percent named Jose Rizal as their number one choice of genuine Filipino hero. Thirty-four of the SWS survey respondents named Katipunan founder Andres Bonifacio, and 20 percent, assassinated Sen. Ninoy Aquino.

Rizal remains as the most respected person not only in Philippine history but is also dubbed as the “pride of the Malay race.” He was a person ahead of his time with his vision for his beloved country even while he went on self-exile that took him to various parts of Europe and Asia.

While still pounding the Palace beat as a reporter, it gave me a sense of pride when we came upon Rizal markers during our coverage of the state visits of FVR in London, England, Prague in Czechoslovakia, and all the way in Moscow. Our hero left behind his mark in these countries, as well as his romantic dalliances with women he had met in these places based on some historians’ accounts.

Drawing inspiration from our national hero, President Aquino led yesterday the commemoration of Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary. The President unveiled what was billed as the tallest statue of Rizal, 22 feet tall, built on a 6.7-hectare property in front of the City Hall of Calamba, the national hero’s birthplace in Laguna. The Palace said the monument is not only a historical landmark but will become the newest tourist site for people honoring Rizal around the world.

If there is one good argument that Senator Marcos could use to push his proposal to move the celebration of Rizal Day to June 19 is for him to cite the Dec. 30, 2000 terrorist bombings in various parts of Metro Manila where scores of holiday revelers were killed and seriously wounded. Instead of honoring the heroism of our country’s national hero, police and military authorities have red-flagged Dec. 30 not as Rizal Day but as a day each year when they go on red alert against terrorist attacks.

On the eve of Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary, a US State Department terror alert though was issued to American nationals in the Philippines, advising them to stay away from potential targets in Metro Manila and Mindanao. Philippine police and military authorities, however, see no need to go on red alert. But we should not be taking any chances, Rizal Day or not.