The American Frank

That’s my way of saying I have been injecting things Jose Rizal in my feature articles in the American Chronicle. Out of 9 articles so far, I have occasion to mention him in 3: One, in my article about Valentine’s Day; two, about the virus of militarism; and three, about Messiahs.

In my article for Valentine’s Day, ‘The Love Lottery. Or, A Tale of Four Loves, St Valentine & The Language of Amour,’ published 14 February 2006, I wrote in part:

What about love lost? On the 15th of February 1891, Austrian Ferdinand Blumentritt writes to his friend Jose Rizal (now national hero of the Philippines), commiserating with him as his beloved has abandoned him and is getting married to a British engineer. ‘Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have lost at all’ (Samuel Butler). Love is not a noun, it’s a verb (Mary Ellen Edmunds). The journey of love is itself the reward.

In ‘The Asian Flu, The Virus of Militarism & The Filipinos, a Separate Peace,’ published 3 March 2006, I wrote:

For almost 400 years, the Spaniards kept us slaves of the isolation of our own making or liking, and we never seriously attempted to break out of the cage of colonial mentality. Until our hero Jose Rizal came – he would do it with Reformation. Today, we have his Unfinished Reformation. Until our hero Andres Bonifacio came after him – he would do it with Revolution. Today, we have his Unfinished Revolution.

And I wrote again:

And so I now call for PEOPLE POWER3 (raised to the 3rd degree), the triad of the Church and the State and the People working together to bring about a new Filipino nation. This calls for a new process; I call that process Filipination, Filipino + nation, the making of a new nation in the old islands of the Philippines. In other words, Filipinizing the Filipino.

In fact, I did not start this one; only the name FILIPINATION is new; the concept was enshrined in the Constitution of the Philippines 30 years ago yet, in the 1987 Cory Constitution, which states in Section 6 of Article XIV: ‘The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.’ And in Section 9: ‘The Congress shall establish a national language commission composed of representatives of various regions and disciplines which shall undertake, coordinate, and promote researches for the development, propagation, and preservation of Filipino and other languages.’

Save for the name, what I call Filipination is already a law; all we have to do is implement it. What have we been waiting for all these 30 years? Nothing. To explain the nothingness? Jose Rizal, our national hero, has the word for it; it’s the Filipinos’ ‘profound lethargy.’

In ‘The Messiah Phenomenon. Or, The Great Philippine Search for a Redeemer,’ published 7 April 2006, I wrote:

After that brief introduction, we now proceed to the study proper and look for the Messiah in several places:

(a) The Messiah in Mary’s son – Here, we might learn the lesson of love, as Jesus shows us a higher form of it: agape, or Christian love.

(b) The Messiah in mythology – Here, we might learn the lesson of hope, as Jason and the Argonauts show us that we need to keep faith with the higher powers.

(c) The Messiah in historical times – Here, we might learn the lesson of peace. In the Philippines, Jose Rizal shows us that peace is the only way, but it can be deadly. Because there are barbarians at the gate who believe in violence in peace.

(d) The Messiah in his own mind – Here, we might learn the lesson of discernment. In the Philippines, will Gringo Honasan prove to be the Messiah that my country needs?

And I wrote again:

Pardon me, but my Messiah comes from my country, 19th century Philippines, in the person of Dr Jose Rizal, now the national hero of the Filipinos. Where the other hero, Andres Bonifacio, advocated violence against the colonizing Spaniards, Rizal advocated non-violence, the very first in Asia to do so, predating Mahatma Gandhi by 22 years (read my book, indios bravos! Jose Rizal As Messiah Of The Redemption, Lumos Publishing, 2005). Bonifacio championed Revolution; Rizal championed Reformation. Bonifacio took the road to war; Rizal took the road to peace. Blessed are the peacemakers.

Indeed, peace is deadly: my Messiah died according to the dictates of barbarians who would perpetuate the slavery of the Filipinos. Yet war is deadlier: Bonifacio died in the hands of his own countrymen – and the Revolution devoured many more of its own children. Violence begets violence. What’s more, a Revolution never dies, that’s why it’s called the Unfinished Revolution.

War is division and subtraction; peace is addition and multiplication. We have not learned the arithmetic of progress.

And I wrote some more:

A Malaya editorial (4 November 2005, Malaya.com.ph/) talks of ‘Honasan’s vision’ but fails to state it; Herman Tiu Laurel (20 March 2006, The Daily Tribune, Tribune.net.ph/) makes much of Honasan’s ‘vision’ and also fails to state it. For the past hour I have been surfing the Internet using Google Advanced Search, and not seen Honasan’s vision; I can only conclude that either he has not articulated it, which is a venial sin, or he has none, which is a cardinal sin in messiahship. In contrast, his country’s national hero Jose Rizal’s vision was very clear: The Philippines as the Pearl of the Orient Sea. Crystal clear.

And I wrote even more:

(7) SACRIFICE OF SELF. To me this is the final sign of the true Messiah. In Luke 9: 21 New KJV, Jesus warns Peter and the other disciples that the Messiah ‘must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised (to life) the third day.’ The subtitle of my book – Jose Rizal As Messiah Of The Redemption – says all I want to say about the national hero of the Philippines. Rizal the Messiah was considered a traitor to Spain, and death by firing squad was the verdict in his kangaroo trial. The wild species devoured him. His ideas live on.

Is Gringo’s what Richard North calls ‘Messiah politics’ in referring to British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s own? Messiah politics is ‘very personal, very idealistic, very powerful, very vote-catching’ (richarddnorth.com/).

Christ was the Jews’ willing Messiah in the 1st century and he was crucified. Rizal was the Filipinos’ willing Messiah in the 19th century, and he was executed. As the Filipino Messiah in the 21st century, will Gringo Honasan offer himself as sacrifice for the sake of his country? ‘Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.’ John 15: 13 New KJV. In my book, my version is this: ‘No greater love has any man than to lay down his life for his friends – and enemies.’

 04 June 2006