GMA presents Rizal specials

MANILA, Philippines - GMA News and Public Affairs celebrates our national hero’s 150th birthday with a number of Jose Rizal specials on both GMA 7 and GMA News TV Channel 11 tonight.

On GMA 7, SNBO presents Piging, a one-hour documentary that features significant events in Rizal’s life.

But beyond the celebration of his birthday, Piging reintroduces Rizal to the current generation of Filipino people through a universal medium — food.

The discussions on the food preparation will shed light on the type of world Rizal lived in, his relationships and values.

Hosted by Cesar Montano, Piging will be graced by historians, Rizal biographers, his descendants and those of his close friends.

On GMA News TV-11, Mga Kuwentong Pambata will give viewers a glimpse into Rizal’s childhood, the stories he loved as a child, and the stories he wrote for children as an adult.

Children will be regaled with four stories for kids involving our national hero: Si Pagong at Si Matsing, which he wrote and drew for his nieces and nephews; Rizal Sa Biñan, the story of his transformation from a below average and bullied student to the class topnotcher; Rizal’s version of Mariang Makiling which he wrote for La Solidaridad; and the story of Rizal’s fascination with a moth beside the gas lamp while being tutored by his mother.

The special is a collaboration between highly-skilled, professional child actors, visual artists, and the network’s writers and directors who are on a mission to produce quality educational stories for children.

It airs tonight at 7.

Following Rizal’s children’s stories is a docudrama suited for students of Rizal. Narrated by Howie Severino and starring Rocco Nacino as Rizal, Pluma is a historic piece that traces the evolution of Rizal’s writings.  

It begins with Sa Aking Mga Kababata that Rizal wrote when he was eight, through the letters he wrote to his girlfriends (there were many) and his best friend Ferdinand Blumentritt all the way up to his Mi Ultimo Adios, which he wrote hours before facing a firing squad.

Pluma shows how Rizal was able to document every stage of his life himself through his writings, detailing the crucial situations he faced as a nationalist.  

It also examines Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which he wrote, edited and re-edited using pen and ink, probably an unthinkable feat to the laptop-carrying generation.

Pluma airs at 7:45 p.m.

To cap the evening, GMA News TV will also air the Kapuso network’s 1998 epic film titled Jose Rizal. Directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya and starring Cesar Montano, the film was a runaway winner among viewers and critics, cornering virtually all the major awards at the Metro Manila Film Festival, FAMAS, Gawad Urian and Star Awards.

Jose Rizal The Movie airs at 9:15 p.m.

Aside from these, GMA News also has its Hero Ko Si Rizal campaign, which features four vignettes drawing a parallelism between our national hero and today’s Filipino.