Rizal vs Ninoy

We do not choose our heroes during the hard times. They are heroes in the making during their days because of their predisposition, their passion and principles. Their intellectual prowess combined with their powerful exposition for reforms in the government prompted them to rise above their personal lives and seek what is just for the nation.

Both came from well-to-do families but they did not settle for material wealth and just live a normal, peaceful life. Instead, what they see as inequities in government prompted them to seek non-violence as a means of carrying out reforms. Rizal merely asked for just representation in Spain where the Philippines ought to be a province of Spain, and thus enjoy the benefits, rights and governance accorded to provinces just like in Europe’s Spain. Aquino, on the other hand, urged Marcos to put an end to martial law and bring back democracy to the country.

When Rizal was able to secure his family in Hong Kong, he can find no peace. He thinks of the settlers in his hometown of Calamba who are oppressed and driven away. Again and again, he talks of those who are persecuted because they read his books, are acquainted with him, or correspond with him. He feels responsible for their sufferings, he feels guilty for living safely in a foreign country. And despite all warnings, Rizal decides to return home. Almost the same as Ninoy Aquino did when he decided to go back to the Philippines, fully aware of the dangers that awaited him. Threatened that he will either be imprisoned or killed, but he just answered, "if it is my fate to die by an assassin’s bullet, so be it". Aquino left the US and was shot on August 21, 1983 while being escorted off the plane.

I think that these two heroes did the same thing. It does not matter if they were undergone in different eras, as long as their goals and advocacy was for freedom of their countrymen. Both Rizal and Aquino knew that to dismantle the tyranny of their times, they need to rally the Filipinos’ support and continue until the end. Rizal opened the eyes of the Filipinos during his time through his writings. Aquino, after his recovery in the US, continued to hurl fiery speeches against the Marcos dictatorship.

The analogy between Rizal and Ninoy is that they both died with the same goal to free us from dictators. It led to unity of most Filipinos to fight for democracy against the Spanish government and Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship.

I can say we too can be a hero in our own little way, everyday of our life.