Armando Malay

1
Veneration With Understanding

• Armando Malay

2

• Si Armando J. Malay ay isa sa mga
  pinakatinitingalang journalist sa bansa. Maliban
  sa pagiging isang peryodista, isa din syang
  propesor at tagasulong ng press freedom lalo na
  nung Martial Law.

3

• The wounds that had been inflicted by foreigners
  were painful, but more painful are the wounds
  still being inflicted on his memory by hisown
  countrymen.

4

• The main argument of the home-grown detractors of
  Rizal is thisSince Rizal did not lead the
  revolution of 1896 he even discouragedand
  disowned it he could not be properly the
  national hero of thePhilippines.

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• Two minor themes have been put forward by Rizals
  made-in-the Philippines critics
• Rizals becoming the national hero was the
  result of American sponsorship
• Rizals patriotic works, including his two
  novels, reflected his mestizo or ilustrado
  background and were taken precisely to protect
  the interests of the ilustrado class.

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Main conclusion of Rizals latter-day detractors

• Since Rizal, despite the fact that he is a false
  hero, continues to bevenerated by Filipinos,
  then that veneration is misplaced and that ifhis
  countrymen only understood Rizals motivation,
  they would drop him like a hot potato.

7
A. Malay's main objective

• I would like to develop the opposite thesis
  Continued veneration of Rizal by the country, and
  even by the world, is not only deserved but also
  understood.

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Ayon kay Constantino

• Almost always, national heroes of the world have
  been revolutionary heroes. If you do not lead a
  revolution, yourchance of emerging a s a
  national hero is nil or very little.

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Sagot ni A. Malay

• I beg to disagreeOut of 125 nations in the
  roster of United Nations, Constantino could only
  name seven revolutionary heroes who, in his
  opinion, have become national heroesVery
  clearly, a mere seven out of 125 is a very small
  minority.

10
Constantino's Seven National Heroes
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Sino ba ang matuturing na isang (pambansang)
bayani?

• A man becomes a hero, or a national hero, not
  because he leads arevolution but because he is
  admired for his achievements and noblequalities,
  and considered a model or ideal.

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Hindi kasali si Mahatma? Bakit?

• I suppose he Constantino would rule out
  Indias Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi led no armies, but
  he did more than all the military leaders of
  India put together to achieve nationhood for
  India.

13
Si Sukarno, wala rin?

• Constantino failed to list Sukarno ofIndonesia.
  Indonesians should automatically regard Sukarno
  as the national hero. But they dont because some
  of his actuations have been placed under a cloud.

14
Constantino's double standard

• I question Constantinos inclusion of Washington
  as the national hero of the United States
  Washington came from the landed gentry, owning
  vast tracts of land and keeping slaves.

15
Biased vs. Rizal?

• One of Constantinos gripes against Rizals
  being the national hero is that the latter did
  not come from the masses whose aspirations did
  not sympathize with. We could say the same way
  with regards to Washington (perhaps even worse
  because Rizal did not hold slaves), yet he made
  Constantinos list and Rizal would not.

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Paano ba maging pambansang bayani?

• A man becomes a hero, or a national hero, if
  heaccomplishes achievements that his people
  would admire so much that they would place him in
  higher regard than any other man in the country

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Pambansang bay Kamao!!!

• That achievement may be in the
  revolutionaryfield, the field of statesmanship
  and music, and in the future, it might be in the
  scientific or economic fields.

18
Scientists as national heroes!

• The field is not limited to the field of
  revolution. Maybe, in some new African nation,
  thenational hero would be one who invents a
  vaccine that would forever banish a debilitating
  disease.

19
Malay vs. Constantino

• My quarrel with Constantino is this He set-up
  the criterion of revolutionary leadership as
  the one that would govern the choice of a
  national hero and since he did not join the
  revolution of 1896 but even repudiated it, he
  could not qualify.

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Veneration with(out) understanding

• Since Rizal continues to be venerated by his
  people, despite the shortcomings described by
  Constantino, then our venerationof Rizal as our
  national hero is misplaced, a veneration
  withoutunderstanding.

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Si Rizal na nga!

• The achievements of Rizal in all the fields he
  chose (culture,history, sciences) would be more,
  much more, than winning a battle orstarting a
  revolution.

22
Hindi katanggap-tanggap kay Malay na
23
Hindi katanggap-tanggap kay Malay na

• I am not denigrating those who served out
  country by starting the revolution or winning
  battlesBut to reject one man from the place that
  is rightfully his because he did not believe that
  the revolution was the right way for his country
  this I cannot accept.

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Si Rizal talaga ang pinaka!

• Men and heroes are not like buttons that can be
  classified as to their size and color, because
  they did this and did not do that. Totality of
  achievements is a better criterion and by this,
  Rizal stands above all others.

25
Bakit kailangang sa Espanya pa?

• Constantino The propagandists chose Spain as
  the arena of their struggle instead of working
  among their own people, educating them, helping
  them realize their own condition, and in
  articulating their own aspirations.

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"The place does not matter

• Malay Again, Constantino is setting up another
  criterion of his own making that the national
  hero must work among his own people.
• They did so not to isolate themselves from the
  masses of their country but to get ideas, to work
  for reforms
• Many great men and women got their baptism of
  fire in foreign countries, but returned home as
  soon as they thought they were ready.

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Mga ilustrado ang inspirasyon?

• R. Constantino
• Reflecting the interests of the ilustrado
  class,Rizal drew the principal characters of his
  two novels from that classIbarra, Fathers
  Damaso and Salvi, Maria Clara etc.

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Ang dapat tularan ay si Padre Florentino at Elias!

•  A. Malay There is a difference between the
  main characters in a novel and those whom the
  author would set up as a model for emulation.
• The heroes in Rizals novels were not Ibarra,
  Maria Clara or FrayDamaso and Fray Salvi.
• In contradistinction, Rizal gave us Elias, a man
  of the masses Father Florentino, a Filipino
  priest Juli and Sisa, and many others, who all
  sprang from the masses.

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Hindi American-made hero si Rizal

• As to the contention that Rizal as the national
  hero was created by the Americans
• Two years after hisexecution, Rizal was already
  honored by the Philippine revolutionarygovernment
  when Aguinaldo declared December 30 1898 as a
  day of mourning.

30
Noon pa man, pambansang bayani na ang turing kay
Rizal

• As early as 1892, Rizal was already regarded as
  a sort of a national hero. He was the honorary
  president of Katipunan
• According to Katipuneros questioned by Spanish
  authorities Rizals picture was hung in their
  meeting rooms.

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Bilang pagtatapos

•    VENERATION OF RIZAL WAS A FACT EVEN BEFORE HIS
  EXECUTION.
• To say now that Rizal was a creation of the
  Americans because they did want Filipinos to
  choose Bonifacio as their national hero is to fly
  in theface of facts.
• Worse, it is to insult the masses who, if they
  are to believe the detractors of Rizal, have
  allowed themselves TO BE DUPED FOR SO LONG.