MABUTING KAISIPAN, SUSI SA KAUNLARAN

Keynote Speech by Sir Atty Edwin D. Bael, KGOR,

Undersecretary designate, Office of the Presidential Adviser

on Overseas Filipino Workers and Muslim Concerns

Magsaysay Park, Dipolog City, December 30, 2017, 7:30AM

Daghang Salamat, my esteemed Pare and classmate, Atty. Cyril Ruiz.

Governor Roberto Y. Uy;

Vice Governor (and classmate) Atty Senen Angeles;

Mayor Darrel Dexter T. Uy;

Vice Mayor Horacio Velasco;

Leader emeritus and First Lady of the Province, Mrs. Evelyn Tang Uy;

Judge Jose Rene Dondoyano;

Judge Rogelio Laquihon;

Judge Ric Bastasa;

DepEd Division Superintendent Dr. Liza Tabilon;

City Councilors: Atty Cyril James Ruiz, Malou Calibo, Atty Raul Barbaso, Maynard Baes, Atty Peter Co, Atty Ruben Legorio;

Provincial Board Members: 

    Ronillo Lee, Patri Jean Chan, and Romulo Soliva;

Police Superintendent Joselito Gallano, 1^st Lt. Jose Ramon Mallare of the Army’s 5^th Infantry Battalion, our men and women in uniform, from the AFP, to the PNP to the BJMP;

The delegation from the Masons from whose rich history of standing up for truth and justice Dr. Rizal had imbibed a lot;

The veterans from among whom I see my uncle General Rogaciano Bael;

Officers and staff of the different offices of the government at the city, provincial and national levels;

MGA KAUBANAN, MGA SILINGAN, MGA KAIGSOONAN,

MGA DIPOLOGNON, MGA TAGA-ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE

UG MGA BISITA:

MAAYO UG BULAHANG BUNTAG KANATONG TANAN!

I appear before you this morning in the gala uniform of the Knights of Rizal to give full honor to the man who, 121 years ago was made to walk with his arms and legs tied, from Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan, where he stood before the firing squad composed of Filipino sharpshooters behind whom were a squad of Spanish soldiers armed with the most modern rifle at that time, the Mausers.

Let’s remember that and resolve right now: never to let Filipinos shoot down other Filipinos at the behest of foreign powers.

7:03 AM: December 30, 1896…

Tres minutos despues de las siete de la mañana:

sa petsang ika-tatlumpo ng disyembre, mil ocho sientos noventa y sais..

·        mao kini ang gutlo nga ang ispiritu ni Rizal mibalik sa Makagagahom;

·        mao kini ang punto sa atong pagsaulog karong adlawa…

·        nga matud pa sa National Historical Commission of the Philippines mas maayong hinumduman pina-agi sa ideya o tema nga –

-      MABUTING KAISIPAN, SUSI SA KAUNLARAN

-      MAAYONG PANGHUNA-HUNA, YAWI SA PAG-USWAG

-      GOOD THINKING, KEY TO PROGRESS

Ladies and gentlemen:

I wish to submit to you today, that the ideas and ideals of Dr. Jose Rizal constitute good thinking and therefore stand as tools to fully open the doors to our national progress.

Why I rejoined government

But first, let me explain why I rejoined government.

When my friend and fellow OFW in San Diego, Atty Abdullah “Dabs” Mama-o, asked me to join him in working for President Duterte last year, I readily agreed without any qualms. He is now Secretary and Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers and Muslim Concerns.

I had no reservations because I found in the President a fulfillment of a few lines in the poem of Dr. Jose Rizal entitled Miguel en Argamasilla de Alba which, if translated to English with substitution of Miguel with Rody, would read:

“Go then, Rody, and with your bright mind like an incandescent, illumine your whole land and redeem the demented multitude, tearing off the dark heavy shroud; and like a pregnant cloud in flight so lofty, launch forth burning lightning to bring down the gods of insanity and let sprout the seeds of prosperity.”

Yes, in the late 1800s Dr. Rizal already saw many among our people as becoming demented and needing redemption by a bright and resolute leader.

President Duterte is the leader with the strength of will to turn our ship of state towards its true north direction. This direction is the vision espoused by Dr. Rizal in the Ultimo Adios, where he said:  “My dreams when a lad barely adolescent, My dreams when already a young man full of vigor, Were to see you one day, Pearl of the seas of the orient, The dark eyes dry, the head held high unbent, Without frowns, without wrinkles, without blushes of high color.”

Plainly stated, that vision - which enabled Dr Rizal to be cool, calm and collected before the firing squad with normal blood pressure - sees our archipelagic nation standing up with dignity, self-confidence and self-esteem, without any reason to cry, to bow down, to doubt, to fear or to be ashamed. That was his magnificent obsession.

It is the ideal and direction that the President leads us to and he needs our help. He needs our help, particularly the PDP-Laban Party members, because he inherited a vast bureaucracy with bad habits, in the midst of a population many of whom are demented by drugs, criminality and corruption, whose prevailing value is “paano natin mapagka-kwartahan ito na di tayo mahuli”…

With the election of President Digong, our people have shown true discernment and have pierced the thin veneer of good manners, right conduct and right speech which have become used as concealing criteria to delude our people. Our people have been searching and feeling for true love of country.

This search reminds us of 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, which teach that:

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

Given this teaching, we can as well say that: “If I have impeccable manners, courteous conduct, and always watch my mouth, but do not have true love for country, I really am nothing.”

Such is our people’s realization and appreciation of this truth, that it is captured in a t-shirt print I saw in Mega Mall: “Nagmumura, pero ‘tang ‘na, totoo’t nagmamahal”.

This pagmamahal sa Inang Bayan, I believe, accounts for the President’s continued very high marks in social surveys…

The opportunities to help redeem our demented multitudes, bring down the gods of insanity, let sprout the seeds of prosperity for all, and intensify true love of country are the reasons I have rejoined government.

Why Rizal’s thoughts constitute good thinking

As I said earlier, I submit that Rizal’s thoughts and ideals constitute good thinking that completely open the doors to national progress.

To show this, may I just speak on four of his many ideals: namely, (1) love of country, (2) unity, (3) education, and (4) perseverance.

Love of country

In a speech in Madrid, entitled “Farewell to 1883”, Dr Rizal declared his love of country in this wise: “In my heart I have suppressed all loves except that of my native land; in my mind I have erased all ideas which do not signify her progress; and my lips have forgotten the names of the native races in the Philippines in order not to say more than Filipinos.”

Writing to Mariano Ponce in July 1888, he told his friend: “Let this be our only motto: For the welfare of the Native land.”

Tayo, anong motto natin? “Kung ano lang ang nakabubuti sa sarili”?

In his article entitled “Love of Country” in the La Solidaridad (Madrid, 31 Oct 1890, p. 247) Dr Rizal asserted that “love of country is never effaced once it has penetrated the heart, because it carries with it a divine stamp which renders it eternal and imperishable…” He continued: “It has been said that love is the most powerful force behind the most sublime actions; well then, among all loves, that of country is the greatest, the most heroic and the most disinterested.”

In his letter to the Governor and Captain General of the Philippine Islands from Hongkong, on March 21, 1892, he mentioned: “the thought of my whole life has always been love of my country and her moral and material development”.

Remember: moral and material development; di lang pera.

Unity

On unity, the work of Dr. Rizal on the “La Liga Filipina” was a classic. Its foremost purpose was “To unite the whole archipelago into one vigorous and homogenous organization.” And its motto was “Unus instar omnium” which has three connotations: “one like all, one equals all, one for all.”

The Spanish colonialists got threatened for they thought that if our forebears followed those ideas of Rizal, then their “divide and conquer” strategy would be defeated. Immediately, they detained Rizal and exiled him to Dapitan.

Dapitan has contemporary significance because some Muslim separatist intellectuals have asserted that Dr. Rizal never mentioned Mindanao as part of the Philippines and had no Moro friends, to support their contention that as such Mindanao should be separate.

I beg to disagree. For Dr. Rizal wrote to his friend Blumentritt describing Mindanaw from linguistic perspectives to explain that he was exiled in this island that is part of the Philippines under Spanish colonial administration. Without reference materials, Rizal created the Mindanao relief map in front of the Saint James Cathedral and it continues as a living work of art in grass. And in his autobiography, Dr Pio Valenzuela attested that when he told Rizal that after the revolution starts they would come and get Rizal, the latter declined saying that they should not delay the revolution for one man, after all he said he could get out of Mindanao at any time with the help of Moro friends. Rizal trusted his Moro friends to get him out of Mindanao.

That is a point that I think we, as an entire people, should ponder and build on: trusting one another to get out of conflict and rebuild not only Marawi but also all of Mindanao by respecting each other and working together towards equitable progress; on the matter of equity, I was present at the meeting in the Palace between the President and fifteen Ulama leaders where PRRD said help and rebuilding should go first to those who do not have.

Education

On education, Dr. Rizal wrote from Dapitan in December 1893 to his nephew Alfredo Hidalgo to “study, study, and meditate well what you study. Life is a very serious thing, and only those with intelligence and courage go through it worthily.” He added: “To live… is to struggle. On this battlefield man has no better weapon than his intelligence, no other force but his heart. Sharpen, perfect, polish then your mind and fortify and educate your heart.”

So, teachers, are we sharpening minds and strengthening hearts?

In his Manifesto of December 15, 1896, Dr Rizal maintained: “I have given proofs as one who most wants liberties for our country and I continue wanting them. But I put as premise the education of the people so that through education and work, they might have a personality of their own and make themselves worthy of (liberties). In my writings I have recommended study, civic virtues, without which redemption is impossible.”

Let’s keep this in mind, then: to become worthy of liberties is the purpose of education; it is not just to become an OFW!

Perseverance

On perseverance, we have really something to learn from Dr. Rizal given our penchant to just blame, justify, criticize, complain, condemn, and not focus on the blessings and opportunities of situations.

He wrote in “Town Schools in the Philippines” that: “Whether the sacrifice be big or small; whether men be ungrateful and forgetful; whether malice be opposed; or whether  sterile and barren egos mock, we ought not to be dismayed before an insignificant failure nor go backward at the least obstacle that is discerned in the  horizon.”

He added: “Let us work then together and instead of useless lamentations, of disconsolate complaints, of accusations and excuses, let us apply the remedy, let us build, no matter if we begin with the simplest, for later we shall have time to erect new edifices on that foundation.”

As you can see, mga katagilungsod, we just mentioned four points of Rizal’s ideals and it has taken time; we will not finish if we mention all…

But it is clear from these short examples that Rizalian thoughts are good and fundamental to our national progress.

There is so much to learn from the hero’s writings so as to share them; that is why I am encouraging Mayor Darrel and the similarly minded to establish a Knights of Rizal Chapter in Dipolog City. The towns of Zamboanga del Norte should also have KOR chapters, given that our province hosts most of the descendants of Dr. Rizal’s pupils in Dapitan.

Siempre adelante towards equitable progress

Let me now wind up with my sharing what we do in our office in Malacanang.

Essentially, we provide policy recommendations to the President on OFW and Muslim Concerns and follow through with action units on problems involving distressed OFWs and urgent matters relating to Muslim issues upon the President’s directive.

We aim to help the President realize “Green Grass of Home” where every citizen has enough opportunities for employment, livelihood and business, so that our citizens, especially our women, would not feel compelled to grasp the sharp sides of the blade (kapit sa patalim) by going to dangerous places of abuse and exploitation; and so that our people may just exercise their right to freedom of movement as a matter of free choice and nevermore of compulsion from the dire circumstances of life.

This Administration pursues its Philippine Development Plan 2017 to 2022, through the three strategic pillars of Malasakit, Pagbabago, at Patuloy na Pag-unlad.

My friends in government: are we dealing with our people from the malasakit of our hearts, or merely from the wish to finish the hours by 5 pm?

The idea of President Digong is that all the programs in his administration would lay the solid foundations for the Ambisyon Natin 2040 Vision, which is that every Filipino has a Matatag, Maginhawa At Panatag Na Buhay.

Now, going back to good thinking, I submit these directions, would be actualized better, with Dr. Rizal’s ideas in the chorus of his Himno a Talisay which he wrote in Dapitan. And with this quote we shall close.

The original Spanish text says:

“Firme y constante, siempre adelante tú marcharás.

¡Tú, victorioso, todo elemento, mar, tierra y viento, dominarás!”

In English:

“Firm and constant, always advancing you shall prosper.

You, triumphant, all elements - sea, land and air: you shall master!”

Sa ato pa:

“Timgas ug makanunayon, punayng padayon, ikaw mag-mauswagon. Ikaw madaugon, tanang elemento – dagat, yuta’g hangin - imong dominahon!

Daghan kaayong salamat!    

RIZALIAN PATRIOTISM FOR LIBERTY, PEACE AND PROSPERITY*

This is why, fellow Knights of Rizal, we study and spread Dr. Rizal’s teachings, by word and deed, with unity, perseverance, and vigilance, so that this multi-colored, multi-layered archipelagic Inang Bayan of 7,641 islands, shall stand as one, compact, dynamic whole, with self-confidence, self-esteem and dignity, always advancing to her moral and material development, with no more reasons: to cry, to be subservient, to doubt, to fear, or to be ashamed – and so that our fellow citizens are each worthy of liberty, peace and prosperity!

===========================================

Thank you Area Commander Sir Willie Mamucod for your kind words of introduction.

Our Supreme Commander, Sir Reynato S. Puno, Sr., KGCR,

Supremo Emeritus Sir Jerry Singson, KGCR,

Our respected Supreme Trustees: Sir Dave, Sir Ave, Sir Max, Sir Rene, Sir Rey, Sir Ennie;

Fellow Knights, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Liberty, Peace and Prosperity

The topic assigned to me is “Rizal the Patriot” which is contained within the theme “Patriotism for Liberty, Peace and Development”. Given these two sets of ideas, I would like to do a little re-statement and speak on “Rizalian Patriotism for Liberty, Peace and Prosperity”.

Our objectives are liberty, peace and prosperity; our strategic approach is Rizalian patriotism.

Let’s talk first about the objectives. There is a UN General Assembly Resolution which the Philippines co-signed that contains contemporary explanations of liberty or freedom, peace and prosperity. It is the UNGA Resolution of 25 September 2015 entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. 

On freedom or liberty, it envisions “a world free of poverty, hunger, disease and want, where all life can thrive”; envisages “a world free of fear and violence, a world with universal literacy”; and declares the determination “to end poverty and hunger in all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfill their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment”. That’s a statement of freedom or liberty we can accept and work for.

On Peace, its Preamble states that: “We are determined to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.”

On Prosperity, the same Preamble declares that: “We are determined to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.”

These definitions and intentions are in harmony with our own national development plans.

Patriotism as Love

For us Knights of Rizal, we want to approach them from the perspective of patriotism and I respectfully submit, it should be Rizalian patriotism.

In simple terms, patriotism is love of country. Being a form of love, let’s get to know the dual interpretations from which love derives.

In Matthew 34 to 40, the Pharisees gathered together and one of them (a scholar of the law) tested Jesus by asking: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Logic would say: love God, love yourself, then love your neighbor. But why did the Lord omit the second logical step?

I believe Sirs and Ladies that the Lord speaks from a different logic; I think He treats each one of us - though endowed with free will - as part of Him, and we are all part of each other, being all sparks of the divine. So when He said “love God with all your heart, soul, mind,” he inclusively meant to love yourself as part of God; which explains why the first is like the second: love your neighbor as you love yourself (being part of God).

From this perspective, we can say there are two general types of love: (1) the at-one-ment with all, part-of-God type of LOVE, and (2) the egoistic, selfish, separate, am-better-than-others type of love.

And I submit to you, Sirs and Ladies: Dr Rizal’s love of country springs from the at-one-ment with all and part-of-God type of love.

This is why Rizalian patriotism is important for us. It rejects the illusion of being separate.

In the words of Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr, “The root of violence is the illusion of separation - from God, from Being itself, from being one with everyone and everything.”

Rizalian Patriotism

Notice how Rizal felt one with his people.

In his “Farewell to 1883” Speech in Madrid, he said: “In my heart I have suppressed all loves, except that of my native land; in my mind I have erased all ideas which do not signify her progress; and my lips have forgotten the names of the native races in the Philippines in order not to say more than Filipinos”.

In his essay “Love of Country” published in La Solidaridad, 31 Oct 1890, he wrote: “It has been said that love is the most powerful force behind the most sublime actions; well then, among all the loves, that of country is the greatest, the most heroic, and the most disinterested”, and Dr. Rizal added: “…love of country is never effaced once it has penetrated the heart, because it carries with it a divine stamp which renders it eternal and imperishable”. 

But we have heard some say that we should not be patriotic as to discriminate against others, especially our non-Filipino fellow Knights, after all in the Fili, Dr Rizal had written that the word patriotism shall smack of fanaticism and he who would boast of patriotic virtues will undoubtedly be confined as a dangerously sick man, as a perturber of social harmony.

That argument is selective quoting. For the entire passage requires that five conditionalities should happen first before the “perturber” conclusion can stand. It says: “Some centuries hence [1] when mankind shall become enlightened and redeemed, [2] when there shall be no races, [3] when all peoples shall become free, [4] when there  shall be neither tyrants nor slaves, nor colonies nor metropolis, [5] when justice shall rule, and man shall become a citizen of the world, the cult of science alone shall remain, the word patriotism shall smack of fanaticism, and he who would boast of patriotic virtues will undoubtedly be confined as a  dangerous sick man, as a perturber of social harmony”. (El Filibusterismo; numbering supplied)

Moreover, Dr Rizal clarified in the same El Fili, that: “…however perfect humanity maybe, patriotism shall always be a virtue among the oppressed, because at all times it will signify love for justice, liberty, and dignity itself…”

This does not mean, however, that we are allowed to discriminate against our non-Filipino brother Knights. R.A. 646 in its Section 4 does not distinguish and simply says: “All persons of legal age and of good moral character and reputation, who are in sympathy with the purposes of the corporation, are eligible for active membership…” This provision gives substance to the tenet that every person is a divine spark and therefore entitled to love of neighbor as we love ourselves. Therefore, every Knight regardless race or creed is entitled to respect and treatment as an equally important member of the Organization.

Going back to how Rizal expressed his love for Inang Bayan, he wrote to the Spanish Governor and Captain-General on 21 Mar 1892, partly in this wise: “... the thought of my whole life has always been love of my country and her moral and material development…” Before that, in a letter to Mariano Ponce on 12 Oct 1888, he had declared: “I shall always be at the service of my country and what my fellow countrymen think I can do, I shall do”.

And in another letter to Mariano Ponce dated 27 July 1888, he urged: “Let this be our only motto: ‘For The Welfare Of The Native Land’. On the day when all Filipinos should think like M H del Pilar and like us, on that day we shall have fulfilled our arduous mission, which is the formation of the Filipino nation”.

Filipino Nation

Yes, Rizal and his friends in Spain and other parts of Europe fought for a Filipino nation. That was the bottom line. Reforms were the indispensable steps.

Thus, in the Fili, he predicted: “Tomorrow we shall be citizens of the Philippines whose destiny will be beautiful because it will be in loving hands. Oh yes! The future is ours, it is rosy. I see life stirring in these regions, so long dead and lethargic… I see towns rising along railways and factories everywhere and buildings like that at Mandaluyong…” (El Filibusterismo, p. 191)

This debunks certain assertions that Rizal was nothing but a reformist wanting continued attachment to Spain, because this talk about being citizens presumes a separate and independent republic! Remember, Spain was and is a Monarchy; their people are subjects, not citizens.

Loving hands to guarantee the nation’s beautiful destiny? We are now in the tomorrow of his era: are the hands of the majority of us “LOVING”? Regrettably, for most of us, NOT!  Rather, we labor under the prevailing value of: “paano natin mapagka-kwartahan ito, na di tayo mahuli” or just plain indifference.

Fellow Knights, “loving hands” are direly needed by our nation.

Multiplying "loving hands" is a main challenge, I submit, as we take patriotic actions and as we study and spread the teachings of the hero, to include the matter of having an industrialized nation.

Worthy of Rights and Liberties

In a letter to M H del Pilar of 22 June 1889, Dr Rizal argued for fearlessness, saying: “We… fight so that there may be more justice and more liberty, and for the sacred rights of man. We ask nothing for ourselves, we sacrifice everything for the common good, what more do we have to fear?”

And, to bring perspective on the tendencies towards licentiousness associated with freedom, he preached the concept of being worthy of liberties. Hence: “…I put as a premise (to liberties for our country) the education of the people so that through education and work, they might have a personality of their own and make themselves worthy of them (liberties)”. (Manifesto, 15 Dec 1896).For, to him: “Liberty is a woman who grants her favors only to the brave. Enslaved peoples have to suffer much to win her and those who abuse her lose her. Liberty is not obtained bobilis bobilis (without pain or merit), nor is it granted gratis et amore”. (Letter to Members of La Solidaridad).

He consciously chose to return to the country in face of the prospect of liquidation by the colonial oppressors, because he revealed: “I wish to show those who deny us patriotism that we know how to die for our duty and our convictions. What matters death if one dies for what one loves, for native land and adored beings?” (Message to Countrymen, HK, 20 June 1892, in sealed envelope)

For, he had asserted: “We die only once and if we do not die well, we lose a good opportunity which will never come up again… If one has to die, at least one must die in his own country, by his country, and for his country”. (Letter to Mariano Ponce, 9 July 1890)

He advocated maximimizing the use of our brains, cooperation, and self-respect: “I believe that nothing can redeem us except our brains” (Letter to M H del Pilar, 4 Apr 1890). “He who wants to help himself should help others because if he neglects others, he too will be neglected by them. One midrib is easy to break, but not a bundle of many midribs tied together”. (Letter To The Maidens Of Malolos). “A nation wins respect not by covering up abuses but by punishing them and condemning them.” (The Philippines Within A Hundred Years). “Lack of self-respect and excessive timidity invite scorn.” (Letter To The Maidens Of Malolos)

On the last point, author Robin Sharma wrote: “The greatest respect is self-respect. Lose that and all the success in the world means zero. If you don’t stand for anything, you’ll fall for anything. If you lack self-respect, you can expect to be treated as such. Living by your principles automatically informs how others should treat you. So start speaking to yourself with the respect you would offer to any great leader.”

With that in mind, it would be well for us to also remember Dr Rizal’s advice to the Members of the La Solidaridad in Barcelona, given that in our country injustice and criminality continue to reign. He wrote: “A great deal of integrity and much goodwill.  No one should expect rewards or honors for what he does. xxxxx …it is advisable for each one to do his duty just for its own sake and at best to expect to be later treated unjustly, because in anomalous countries, injustice is the prize for those who fulfill their duties.” (Letter to members of La Solidaridad in Barcelona)

Rizalian Patriotism Everyday

Remember that passage from the Upanishads that says watch your thoughts, for they become your words, that become your actions, that become your habits, that in turn become your character and will be your destiny?

Let’s keep these Rizalian thoughts and ideals in our hearts and minds everyday; for as Meister Eckhart said: “what we plant in the soil of contemplation we shall reap in the harvest of action”.

And remember: only actions bring results.

Rizal and the Duterte Administration

Speaking of actions, when my San Diego friend Atty Dabs Mama-o - who was a classmate of the President in the San Beda law school - asked me to join him in working for the Mayor in the service of OFWs, I immediately accepted. I had no reservations because I found in the President a fulfillment of a few lines in the poem of Dr. Jose Rizal entitled Miguel en Argamasilla de Alba, which if translated to English with substitution of Miguel with Rody, would read:

“Go then, Rody, and with your bright mind illumine your whole land and redeem the demented multitude; and like a pregnant cloud in flight so lofty, launch forth burning lightning to bring down the gods of insanity and let sprout the seeds of prosperity.”

Can we help the President redeem the multitudes of our people who have become demented and crazy about drugs and criminality?

Can we help him bring down the insane gods of corruption, abuse, and monopoly?

And can we help him make prosperity happen such that the poor are enabled to transcend the deep morass of inaction, unbelief and unwarranted entitlement?

Yes, Sir Knights, ladies and fellow Rizalists, I believe we can!

Especially if we strongly espouse his teaching that education and hard work allow people to have personalities of their own and become worthy of liberties.

In the Fili, he declared: “Our ills are due to ourselves; let us not throw the blame on anybody”.

And he urged: “…we should win our freedom by deserving it, exalting individual reason and dignity, loving the just, the good, the great, even dying for it. And when a people reaches that height, God will provide the arms, and the idols will fall, the tyrants will fall like a house of cards, and liberty will shine with the first dawn.” (excerpts from El Filibusterismo, 1891, pp.283-284)

Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022; Ambisyon Natin 2040

At this point, let’s bring our attention to the programs of the Duterte Administration, so as to “relevantize” our discussion.

The Philippine Development Plan (or PDP) 2017–2022 largely stems from the 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda. It is the first of four medium-term plans that will work towards realizing AmBisyon Natin 2040, the collective vision of Filipinos over the next 25 years.

For the first time in our history, succeeding administrations are bound by an over-arching vision: that of Ambisyon Natin 2040; also for the first time in our history, the National Security Plan was developed hand in glove with the Development Plan.

Ambisyon Natin 2040 posits the vision that by 2040 Filipinos will achieve their aspiration of a “matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay.” Towards that goal, the PDP, with 21 Chapters, is aimed at laying a strong foundation for inclusive growth, a high-trust and resilient society, and a globally competitive economy.

The PDP 2017-2022 is structured along the pillars and intersecting strategies of: (1) malasakit (i.e., enhancing the social fabric and at-one-ment with the peoples’ pains), (2) pagbabago (i.e., inequality-reducing transformation to reduce those pains), and (3) patuloy na pag-unlad (i.e., increasing growth potential and upward spiral of equitable progress).

So here we see the convergence of a love of country from unity with the All in all, with the commitment to shift the nation to its true north direction, which we shall talk about later.

Rizalian Strategic Approaches

In moving towards the condition where every Filipino has “matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay”, I submit we can learn from Dr. Rizal an enabling maxim, an unstoppable attitude, and an unbreachable stanch.

The enabling maxim is his motto for the La Liga Filipina, which is “unus instar omnium”, a Latin phrase with three connotations in English, namely: “one like all, one equals all, one for all”. Notice how it fits the love of self as-part-of-God type of Love? Verily, we attain peace by oneness, not separateness. That is why the first aim of the La Liga Filipina was: “To unite the whole archipelago into one compact, vigorous, and homogenous body”. This is Rizalian at-one-ment.

The unstoppable attitude comes from the Chorus of Himno a Talisay which reads in part:

Firme y constante, siempre adelante, tu marcharas;

Tu victorioso, todo elemento, mar, tierra y viento, tu dominaras

Firm and constant, always advancing, you shall prosper;

You triumphant, all elements: sea, land and air, you shall master.

Matatag at matapat, palaging pasulong, ikaw ay magkamit ng kasaganaan;

Ikaw nananalo, lahat ng elemento: dagat, lupa’t hangin, iyong mapamahalaan.

Timgas ug makanunayon, punayng padayon, ikaw magmauswagon;

Ikaw madaugon, tanang elemento: dagat, yuta’g hangin imong dominahon.

From Himno a Talisay, then, we learn the relentless attitude: siempre adelante, always advancing, palaging pasulong, punayng padayon! This is the way the river reaches the sea, no matter how convoluted the way. This is Rizalian perseverance.

On the other hand, the idea of a strong defensive stanch can be gleaned from the Chorus of Himno al Trabajo which reads:

¡Por la patria en la Guerra,por la patria en la paz,

velará el Filipino,vivirá y morirá.

For the nation at war, for the nation in peace,

the Filipino shall stand guard, shall live and shall die.

Para sa bansa sa digmaan, para sa bansa sa kapayapaan,

ang Pilipino ay magtatanod, mabubuhay at mamamatay.

Alang sa nasud sa gubat, alang sa nasud sa kalinaw,.

ang Pilipino magbantay, mabuhi ug mamatay

So from Himno al Trabajo, we learn the firm and resilient stanch: velará el Filipino, the Filipino shall stand guard, ang Pilipino ay magtatanod, ang Pilipino magbantay! In other words, since all shall be involved in being alert and ready, nothing can get through. This is Rizalian vigilance.

As an aside, instead of having been largely indifferent to the happenings in their own City, if this defensive community alertness had been applied by the people of Marawi, would you think, perhaps, that the current terrible urban warfare there could have been prevented?

Anyway, Sir Knights, let’s learn and apply in our own daily lives these three tenets of: (1) at-one-ment, (2) perseverance, and (3) vigilance or alertness to threats to the nation and readiness to counteract them.

On the point of alertness, let’s converge Rizal’s dream of “an industrialized Philippines in loving hands” with the reminder from the First President of the US, George Washington, that: “to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace”.

Contrary to some people’s perceptions, Rizal was not a peacenik; he just refused to go into battle that guaranteed defeat, which was the essence of his response to Pio Valenzuela in Dapitan. On this facet of history, please look up the memoirs of Dr Valenzuela detailing his conversation with Rizal and why, later in his testimony before the Court Martial, Valenzuela invented the story that Bonifacio got angry at the supposed cowardice of Rizal.  Read Agoncillo’s “Revolt of the Masses”, Chap X p. 366, and the blog –

http://j-rizal.blogspot.com/2007/04/dr-pio-valenzuelas-conference-with-dr.html

Rizal’s deep seated and patriotic position in relation to conflict can be found in the lyrics of his Hymn to Talisay, which says in part:

“We are children who, though born quite late, have souls with vigorous character;                 

strong men we shall be in the future who’ll know how to guard their families.                     

“Children who, none can intimidate: not waves, nor hurricane, nor thunder;            

with speedy arm and serene feature, we can fight when in difficulties.  xxxx                           

“There is no darkness, no pitchblack night, nor fierce storm or typhoon that we dread;    

and should Satan himself come to sight, he shall be captured alive or dead.” xxxx

Our arms wield with skill and fine accord: the knife, the pen, the gardening hoe,       

the pickaxe, the rifle and the sword - companions of the strong fellow.                       

(Source: http://rizalsignificance.blogspot.com/2011/03/hymn-to-talisay.html)     

Worthy of Liberty, Peace and Prosperity

Fellow Rizalists, these three – united teamwork, united perseverance, united vigilance - are important parts of the Rizalian mindsets, attitudes and approaches; but what is the end game or vision for which Dr. Rizal so passionately advocated these strategies?

I submit, Sirs and Ladies, that it is the vision or shall we say his magnificent obsession - constituting, I submit, the true north port onwards to which the nation sails - that enabled him to stand so cool, calm, collected, with normal blood pressure in front of the firing squad.

Dr. Rizal expressed that obsession and true north direction in the Last Farewell in the stanza saying: “My dreams when a lad barely adolescent, my dreams when a young man already filled with vigor, were to see you one day, pearl of the seas of the orient, the dark eyes dry, the head held high unbent, without frowns, without wrinkles, without blushes of high color”.

This is why, fellow Knights of Rizal, we study and spread Dr. Rizal’s teachings, by word and deed, with unity, perseverance, and vigilance, so that this multi-colored, multi-layered archipelagic Inang Bayan of 7,641 islands, shall stand as one, compact, dynamic whole, with self-confidence, self-esteem and dignity, always advancing to her moral and material development, with no more reasons: to cry, to be subservient, to doubt, to fear, or to be ashamed – and so that our fellow citizens are each worthy of liberty, peace and prosperity!

Daghan kaayong salamat!

______________________

*Edited Speech of Sir Edwin D. Bael, KGOR, at the First Plenary Session of the Knights of Rizal 22^nd Mindanao Area Special Assembly (MINDASA) on October 7, 2017, Big 8 Corporate Hotel, Tagum City; Revised to serve as part of the briefing materials for Knights of Rizal.