National sentiments

You know I’m a Rizal descendant, great-granddaughter of his sister, Maria. This gentleman also knew it. He came to call with two boxes of sweets and a big parcel. We settled on my porch and slowly he unveiled the parcel. It was a wooden head of Jose Rizal, which Jose Rizal had carved himself.  

He presented me with certificates or whatever you call those documents that authenticate the head.  He had purchased it from a relative of someone who used to be a student of Rizal’s in Dapitan. I was – I don’t know — struck by the simplicity of it. It was not a fabulous sculpture but it was a really good carving of Rizal’s head created by his own hands. Something about that seemed to have slapped me and dislocated my brain for a few minutes.

We sat on my porch contemplating the sculpture for around two hours. He said he was thinking of perhaps selling it to someone who would put it on display for people, especially children, to see. I photographed it on my cell phone, something I am not very good at, and am sending it along with this article. If you are someone who owns a museum and would like to talk, please text me and I’ll set up the appointment for you. I promised him I would do this. It is also a good way to wish Jose Rizal, our famous albeit little known hero, a happy birthday. His birthday was June 19. If he had lived, he surely would be dead by now. He would be 153 years old.

Five days after Rizal’s birthday I got inducted into the Management Association of the Philippines as a balik-member.  At that meeting the speaker was Dr. Maria Serena “Maris” Diokno, chair of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). The title of her talk was “Dr. Jose Rizal and the Moral Imperative:  Corruption in the Philippines, Then and Now.”  As expected there was little or no difference except maybe then it was the colonizers who were corrupt and they just passed their habits on to us. No evil intentions there but remember we were a colony for 350 years. That’s a long time. Of course we acquired their habits. The sad part is we have not changed.

Maris said that Rizal loved his country more than anything. She said we had a need for national sentiments, real feelings for our country and people. This statement moved me. It woke up my dream of doing a mini-series on Rizal’s life portraying him and his family as real people, not the way historians have portrayed him. I want all our young people to know him, love him and through that know and love their country as well. 

On and off I have wanted to talk to Manny Pangilinan about this project. See, I don’t have the money to produce this. It will cost a lot because it’s a period series, something like Downton Abbey but in Taglish, which we can later dub or subtitle in any language. I no longer know how to contact him. I think I am afraid of being snubbed. See? I have feelings, not quite national sentiments, but some sentiments. I fear being snubbed so I leave the matter up to God.  If He thinks I should do it, then something will happen.  That is very, very Filipino.

 At  the end of Maris’ speech everyone was talking . . . about Napoles yet again. Let me officially say I am tired of that issue, tired of the time it’s taking, tired of how in the end most likely nothing will happen. True some people will be sent to jail but they will have comfortable quarters.  It’s like somebody determines the size and comfort of your quarters according to the size of your plunder. They took hundreds of millions.  They should have their own houses with air-conditioners.

Look at the PCGG. It has been 28 years and still not much has happened. That’s why we have no national sentiments except anger and disgust.

 I cannot help but remember the early Marcos years when he had a drug person shot at 5 a.m. After that everyone sobered up and straightened out for two years. I remember also someone posing a solution to our problems sometime around 1986. He called it the Red Wall solution or something like that. In short it said build a wall somewhere and paint it white. Then take the culprits and shoot them dead against the wall. When the entire wall turns red, all our behavioral problems, including corruption and political dynasties will be solved. Then we will have a different national sentiment: Fear. But fear can work miracles. Look at me. I am afraid of being snubbed so I don’t do anything.

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