News Commentary

Amid buzz on NBA Finals, Pinoy netizens remember Rizal's bday

Louis Bacani - The Philippine Star

June 19, 2013 | 2:37pm

MANILA, Philippines - The thrilling Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday was definitely a buzz among Filipino netizens. But did this sports event outmuscled the importance of June 19 in the Philippines?

The country is celebrating the 152nd birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal on Wednesday, with the government tapping the internet and social media to pay tribute to his life, works, and achievements.

The Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office made an online commemoration of Rizal's birthday in the Presidential Museum and Library website, and its attached social media accounts in Facebook and Tumblr.

President Benigno Aquino III, for his part, recalled Rizal's birth anniversary in a speech, saying the national hero "was largely responsible for steering our nation down the path of equality and, subsequently, development."

Filipinos also utilized the net to remember the birthday of their national hero. Some even went to social media not just to greet Rizal on his day, but also to express concern on how others were too focused on the NBA game and nearly forgot Wednesday's historic occasion:

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Born on June 19, 1861, JosÃ© Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was the seventh of eleven children and belonged to a wealthy family in the town of Calamba, Laguna.

Rizal attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated Bachelor of Arts. He took up medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas.

He continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain and earned the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He also enrolled at the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg.

Rizal was also a poet, essayist, and novelist. His most famous works were his two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

The Philippine nation hero was executed on December 30, 1896.