Rizal Law

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1425

AN ACT TO INCLUDE IN THE CURRICULA OF ALL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS,

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES COURSES ON THE LIFE, WORKS AND WRITINGS OF
JOSE RIZAL, PARTICULARLY HIS NOVELS NOLI ME TANGERE AND EL
FILIBUSTERISMO, AUTHORIZING THE PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION THEREOF, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES

WHEREAS, today, more than any other period of our history, there is a need for a re-dedication to the
ideals of freedom and nationalism for which our heroes lived and died;

WHEREAS, it is meet that in honoring them, particularly the national hero and patriot, Jose Rizal, we
remember with special fondness and devotion their lives and works that have shaped the national
character;

WHEREAS, the life, works and writing of Jose Rizal, particularly his novels Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, are a constant and inspiring source of patriotism with which the minds of the youth,
especially during their formative and decisive years in school, should be suffused;

WHEREAS, all educational institutions are under the supervision of, and subject to regulation by the
State, and all schools are enjoined to develop moral character, personal discipline, civic conscience and to
teach the duties of citizenship; Now, therefore,

SECTION 1. Courses on the life, works and writings of Jose Rizal, particularly his novel Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, shall be included in the curricula of all schools, colleges and universities,
public or private: Provided, That in the collegiate courses, the original or unexpurgated editions of the
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo or their English translation shall be used as basic texts.

The Board of National Education is hereby authorized and directed to adopt forthwith measures to
implement and carry out the provisions of this Section, including the writing and printing of appropriate
primers, readers and textbooks. The Board shall, within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act,
promulgate rules and regulations, including those of a disciplinary nature, to carry out and enforce the
provisions of this Act. The Board shall promulgate rules and regulations providing for the exemption of
students for reasons of religious belief stated in a sworn written statement, from the requirement of the
provision contained in the second part of the first paragraph of this section; but not from taking the course
provided for in the first part of said paragraph. Said rules and regulations shall take effect thirty (30) days
after their publication in the Official Gazette.

SECTION 2. It shall be obligatory on all schools, colleges and universities to keep in their libraries an
adequate number of copies of the original and unexpurgated editions of the Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, as well as of Rizal’s other works and biography. The said unexpurgated editions of the
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo or their translations in English as well as other writings of Rizal
shall be included in the list of approved books for required reading in all public or private schools,
colleges and universities.

The Board of National Education shall determine the adequacy of the number of books, depending upon
the enrollment of the school, college or university.
SECTION 3. The Board of National Education shall cause the translation of the Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, as well as other writings of Jose Rizal into English, Tagalog and the principal Philippine
dialects; cause them to be printed in cheap, popular editions; and cause them to be distributed, free of
charge, to persons desiring to read them, through the Purok organizations and Barrio Councils throughout
the country.

SECTION 4. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as amendment or repealing section nine hundred
twenty-seven of the Administrative Code, prohibiting the discussion of religious doctrines by public
school teachers and other person engaged in any public school.

SECTION 5. The sum of three hundred thousand pesos is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of
any fund not otherwise appropriated in the National Treasury to carry out the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Senator Claro M. Recto was the main proponent of the Rizal Bill. He sought to sponsor the
bill at Congress. However, this was met with stiff opposition from the Catholic Church. During the 1955
Senate election, the church charged Recto with being a communist and an anti-Catholic. After Recto's
election, the Church continued to oppose the bill mandating the reading of Rizal's novels Noli Me
Tángere and El Filibusterismo, claiming it would violate freedom of conscienceand religion.
In the campaign to oppose the Rizal bill, the Catholic Church urged its adherents to write to their
congressmen and senators showing their opposition to the bill; later, it organized symposiums. In one of
these symposiums, Fr. Jesus Cavanna argued that the novels belonged to the past and that teaching them
would misrepresent current conditions. Radio commentator Jesus Paredes also said that Catholics had the
right to refuse to read them as it would "endanger their salvation".
Groups such as Catholic Action of the Philippines, the Congregation of the Mission, the Knights
of Columbus, and the Catholic Teachers Guild organized opposition to the bill; they were countered by
Veteranos de la Revolucion (Spirit of 1896), Alagad in Rizal, the Freemasons, and the  Knights of Rizal.
The Senate Committee on Education sponsored a bill co-written by both José P. Laurel and Recto, with
the only opposition coming from Francisco Soc Rodrigo, Mariano Jesús Cuenco, and Decoroso Rosales.
The Archbishop of Manila, Rufino Santos, protested in a pastoral letter that Catholic students
would be affected if compulsory reading of the unexpurgated version were pushed through. Arsenio
Lacson, Manila's mayor, who supported the bill, walked out of Mass when the priest read a circular from
the archbishop denouncing the bill.
Rizal, according to Cuenco, "attack dogmas, beliefs and practices of the Church. The assertion
that Rizal limited himself to castigating undeserving priests and refrained from criticizing, ridiculing or
putting in doubt dogmas of the Catholic Church, is absolutely gratuitous and misleading." Cuenco
touched on Rizal's denial of the existence of purgatory, as it was not found in the Bible, and that Moses
and Jesus Christ did not mention its existence; Cuenco concluded that a "majority of the Members of this
Chamber, if not all [including] our good friend, the gentleman from Sulu" believed in purgatory.  The
senator from Sulu, Domocao Alonto, attacked Filipinos who proclaimed Rizal as "their national hero but
seemed to despise what he had written", saying that the Indonesians used Rizal's books as their Bible on
their independence movement; Pedro López, who hails from Cebu, Cuenco's province, in his support for
the bill, reasoned out that it was in their province the independence movement started, when Lapu-
Lapu fought Ferdinand Magellan.
 Outside the Senate, the Catholic schools threatened to close down if the bill was passed; Recto
countered that if that happened, the schools would be nationalized. Recto did not believe the threat,
stating that the schools were too profitable to be closed. The schools gave up the threat, but threatened to
"punish" legislators in favor of the law in future elections. A compromise was suggested, to use the
expurgated version; Recto, who had supported the required reading of the unexpurgated version, declared:
"The people who would eliminate the books of Rizal from the schools would blot out from our minds the
memory of the national hero. This is not a fight against Recto but a fight against Rizal", adding that since
Rizal is dead, they are attempting to suppress his memory.
On April 03, 1956, Senate Bill No. 438 was filed by the Committee of Education. On April 17,
Senator Jose P. Laurel, Chairman of the Committee of Education began his sponsorship. On April 23,
start the debates. Senators Rodrigo, Rosales and Cuenco is the main opponents because it gets support
from the Catholic Church. According to Rodrigo “The two great loves of Filipinos are their country and
faith, let us not create conflict between nationalism and religion.” The resolution of the issue is when
Senator Laurel came which propose an amendment or revise of the bill. On May 12, 1956, a compromise
inserted by Committee on Education chairman Laurel that accommodated the objections of the Catholic
Church was approved unanimously. The bill specified that only college (university) students would have
the option of reading unexpurgated versions of clerically-contested reading material, such as Noli Me
Tángere and El Filibusterismo. The bill was enacted on June 12, 1956, Flag Day.

Claro M.Recto launched his political career as a legal adviser to the first Philippine Senate in 1916. In
1919, he was elected representative from the second district of Batangas. He served as minority floor
leader for several years until 1925. His grasp of parliamentary procedures won him the accolades of
friends and adversaries alike.
Recto traveled to the United States as a member of the Independence Mission and was admitted to the
American Bar in 1924. Upon his return, he founded the Partido Democrata.
In 1928, Recto temporarily retired from active politics and dedicated himself to the practice and teaching
of law. Soon thereafter, however, he found the world of academia restrictive and soporific. Although he
still engaged in the practice of law, he resigned from his teaching job in 1931 and reentered politics. He
ran and won a senate seat and was subsequently elected majority floor leader in 1934. He was
appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in July 3, 1935 – November 1, 1936 by
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
As a jurist, he debated against U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Attorney General Herbert Brownell
Jr. on the question of U.S. ownership of military bases in the Philippines, [4] a question that remained
unresolved for 40 years.
Recto presided over the assembly that drafted the Philippine Constitution in 1934–35 in accordance with
the provisions of the Tydings–McDuffie Act and a preliminary step to independence and self-governance
after a 10-year transitional period. The Tydings–McDuffie Act was written to replace the Hare–Hawes–
Cutting Act which, through the urging of Manuel L. Quezon, was rejected by the Philippine Senate. The
original bill would have allowed the indefinite retention of U.S. military and naval bases in the
Philippines and the American imposition of high tariff and quotas on Philippine exports such as sugar
and coconut oil. After amendments, the Tydings–McDuffie bill was passed and signed into law by
President Roosevelt.
Together with then-Senate President Quezon, who later was elected first president of the Commonwealth
of the Philippines, Recto personally presented the Commonwealth Constitution to U.S. President
Roosevelt. The consensus among many political scholars of today judges the 1935 Constitution as the
best-written Philippine charter ever. Its author was mainly Claro M. Recto.
In 1941, Recto ran and reaped the highest number of votes among the 24 elected senators. He was re-
elected in 1949 as a Nacionalista Party candidate and again in 1955 as a guest candidate of the Liberal
Party.
Recto served as Commissioner of Education (1942–43), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1943–44), and
Cultural Envoy with the rank of Ambassador on a cultural mission to Europe and Latin America (1960).
In the 1953 and 1955 elections, Recto denounced the influence and coercion of the Catholic Church on
voters' decisions—the Philippines having a 90% Catholic majority at the time. In a 1958 article in "The
Lawyer's Journal," Recto suggested a constitutional amendment to make the article on Separation of
Church and State clearer and more definitive. He also argued against the teaching of religion in public
schools.
Recto foresaw the demands of a fast-moving global economy and the challenges it would pose to his
nation. In a memorable speech on the eve of the 1957 presidential election when he ran against
then President Carlos Garcia, he petitioned all sectors of society, and following the example of Rizal,
implored Philippine youth.

José Paciano Laurel y García was born on March 9, 1891 in the town of Tanauan, Batangas. His
parents were Sotero Laurel I and Jacoba García. His father had been an official in the revolutionary
government of Emilio Aguinaldo and a signatory to the 1898 Malolos Constitution.
While a teen, Laurel was indicted for attempted murder when he almost killed a rival suitor of the girl he
stole a kiss from with a fan knife. While studying and finishing law school, he argued for and received an
acquittal.
Laurel received his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1915, where he
studied under Dean George A. Malcolm, whom he would later succeed on the Supreme Court. He then
obtained a Master of Laws degree from University of Santo Tomas in 1919. Laurel then attended Yale
Law School, where he obtained his J.S.D. degree.
Laurel began his life in public service while a student, as a messenger in the Bureau of Forestry then as a
clerk in the Code Committee tasked with the codification of Philippine laws. During his work for the
Code Committee, he was introduced to its head, Thomas A. Street, a future Supreme Court Justice who
would be a mentor to the young Laurel.
Upon his return from Yale, Laurel was appointed first as Undersecretary of the Interior Department, then
promoted as Secretary of the Interior in 1922. In that post, he would frequently clash with the
American Governor-General Leonard Wood, and eventually, in 1923, resign from his position together
with other Cabinet members in protest of Wood's administration. His clashes with Wood solidified
Laurel's nationalist credentials.
Laurel was an honorary member of the Philippine fraternity Upsilon Sigma Phi.

Francisco "Soc" Aldana Rodrigo After the war, Rodrigo resumed his law practice by joining the law
firm of Francisco Delgado and Lorenzo Tañada. Then, he opened the Rodrigo Law Office in 1946.
Rodrigo authored Philippine Modern Legal Forms and Handbook on the Rules of Court.
In 1951, Rodrigo became the president of the Ateneo Parent-Teacher Association, then became the
president of the Ateneo Alumni Association in 1953. In 1953, Rodrigo and Bob Stewart ran an
unprecedented 48-hour coverage of the entire proceedings of the 1953 Presidential Elections. Rodrigo
was awarded by president Ramon Magsaysay a Legion of Honor due to this marathon broadcast. In 1955,
Rodrigo won a seat in the Philippine Senate under the Nacionalista Party of President Magsaysay. One of
Rodrigo’s speeches, "Catholics in Politics," delivered on 7 September 1957, is included in the Anvil
Press book "20 Speeches That Moved a Nation. Awarded as one of the Ten Outstanding Senators of his
time, he was a much invited guest of foreign governments such as the United States, Britain and West
Germany, among others. Rodrigo was also awarded a U.S. Government grant under the terms of Public
Law 402 (Smith - Mundt) for observation and travel under the auspices of the Governmental Affairs
Institute (Nov. 20, 1959 - Jan. 20, 1960).
For the 1959 midterm elections, Rodrigo ran an unsuccessful campaign for the “Grand Alliance” counting
as candidates Emmanuel Pelaez, Raul Manglapus and Jorge Vargas, among others. Then in 1961,
Rodrigo got the third-most votes to win a second senatorial term as a Liberal Party candidate
with Diosdado Macapagal. He sought a third term in 1967 but lost. From 1970-1972, Rodrigo hosted
the ABS-CBN program "Mga Kuro-kuro ni Soc Rodrigo."

Changes from Draft C to the Bishops "Statement"

The Introduction of bishops "Statement" was taken up from Draft C with positive approach.
However, some sentences or paragraph were dropped or have been added by Cavanna and Archbishop
Rufino Santos. The Statement appears consious effort not to praise Rizal too highly. The moral virtues
that comprise patriotism that was stated in Draft A and C is dropped in the statement as well as the
sentence of C wich says that "Hence a considerable portion of these novels is devoted to castigating or
satirizing bad priests and superstitious observance." This becomes " The larger part of these novels wer
devoted to castigating disedifying priests and to satirizing what he deemed to be suspecious observances
and practices of the church." The differences between these sentences are obvious, some words became
more exagerated.
Cavanna even quoted Rizal's saying when he was defended by Tavera to Fr. Faura, saying that in
attacking the friars the stone thrown too high and with such force that it reached religion but Rizal
corrected him and tend to said "This comparison is not qyitr exact; I wished to throw the missile against
the friars; but as they used the rituals and superstitions of religuon as a shield, I had to get rid of that
shield in order to wound the enemy tha was hiding behind it." And from that Cavanna concluded that
Rizal did attacked the religion, the rituals and superstitions that are sacred acts of Catholic worship.
The statement proceeded rather to quote canon law forbidding certain types of books under whose
categories it declared the two novels. Only with the permission of ecclesiastical authority. This part of the
stament as well as the minor alternations may not be from Fr. Cavanna but from Abp. Rufino Santos. The
rest of the statement dealt with unreasonable and injustice of the Senate Bill, making it obligayory to
Catholic students to read attacks on their faith.
Although Cavanna did the larger part of the "Statement" it is probable that the strict prohibition of
the novel as well as perhaps other minor elements came from Santos. Santos role is indicated in a letter of
Sen. Soc Rodrigo to the archbishop dated the day preceeding the issuance of the Statement. Rodrigo had
been, and would be after the Statement since he was the principal defender of the Church in the Senate.

Let’s just respect Rizal and his work, we ought to follow the affectionate realism he taught us
in the love he had for his country.  We need not be blind to his errors.  To err is human.  He had his
human failings like the rest of us; and while he showed great wisdom and courage in returning to the
true Faith before his death, we cannot ignore the fact that he did lapse from that faith.   The historic
fact of his retraction shows that he himself, in conscience, in the face of death, did not approve of
each and every one of his previous statements.

References
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Abinales, Patricio N.; Amoroso, Donna J. (2005). State and society in the Philippines.
Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-7425-1024-1.
2. ^ Cruz-Araneta, Gemma (2010-12-29). "Legislating Rizal, 1". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the
original on December 30, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Pangalangan, Raul (2010-12-31). "The intense debate on the Rizal Law". Philippine Daily
Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2011-01-03. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Cruz-Araneta, Gemma (2010-12-29). "Legislating Rizal, 2". Manila Bulletin.
Retrieved 2011-05-24.
5. ^ Rodis, Rodel (2010-01-07). "Global Networking : The Rizal bill". Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Retrieved 2011-06-12.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c Ocampo, Ambeth (2007-05-04). "The fight over the Rizal Law". Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
7. ^ "Mr. Ramos leads Rizal Day rites". Manila Standard. 1994-12-29. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
8. ^ Mendez, Christina (2011-05-23). "JPE, Joker confident of compromise on RH bill". Philippine Star.
Retrieved 2011-05-24.
9. ^ "Jose Rizal: new symbol of reproductive health rights?". ABS-CBNnews.com. 2011-06-01. Archived
from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2011-06-01.