History of Rizal Law

Senate bill 438

known as

Rizal Bill

which was

first authored by Senator Claro M. Recto

requiring the inclusion in thecurricula of all private and public schools, colleges and universities the life,
works and writings of Jose Rizal particularly his novelsNoli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo

- is considered as one of the most controversial bills in the Philippines. Normally, before thebill was
approved and implemented in all schools and was signed into a law known as

Republic Act 1425

, it had been brought to theUpper and Lower House of the Congress for deliberations. But what made it
controversial is that the bill was not just fiercelyopposed by people from

Legislative Arm

but also by the

Catholic Church

due to the inclusion of compulsory reading of Rizal's novelsin which according to them,

catholic dogmas are humiliated

.Senator Recto brought the bill to the Senate and Senator

Jose B. Laurel Sr.

who was then the

Chairman of the Committeeon Education

sponsored the bill that consequently led to exchange of arguments from the Congress. The bill was
headedly opposedby three senators namely Senator Francisco Rodrigo who was a former Catholic
Action President, Senator Mariano Cuenco andSenator Decoroso Rosales who was the brother of Julio
Rosales, an archbishop. Other oppositors were from Lower House namelyCongressmen Ramon Durano,
Marciano Lim, Jose Nuguid, Manuel Soza, Godofredo Ramos, Miguel Cuenco, Lucas
Paredes,Congressmen Carmen Consing and Tecia San Andres Ziga. The Catholic Church was indirectly
included in the debates and played amajor role for the intervention of signing of the bill into a law.
Allied with the church in battle against Rizal Bill were the Holy NameSociety of the Philippines, Catholic
Action of the Philippines, Legion of Mary, Knights of Columbus and Daughters of Isabela.Oppositions
argued that the bill would go against freedom of conscience and religion, The Catholic Bishops
Conference ofthe Philippines (CBCP) submitted a pastoral letter to which according, Rizal violated Canon
Law 1399 which forbids or bans booksthat attack or ridicule the catholic doctrine and practices.
Oppositors argued that among the 333 pages of Noli Me Tangere, only 25passages are nationalistic
while 120 passages are anti-catholic. While upon scrutiny of thetwo novels by some members of
catholichierarchial, 170 passages in Noli Me Tangere and 50 in El Filibusterismo are against catholic
fatih. Furthermore, oppositors pointedout that Rizal admitted that he did not only attack the friars who
acted deceptively on the Filipinos but also the catholic faith itself.They suggested a reading material for
students as to what they called Rizalian Anthology, a collection of Rizal's literary works thatcontain the
patriotic philosophy excluding the two novels.Of course, Recto and Laurel defended the bill and argued
that the only objective of the bill is to keep the memory of thenational hero alive in every Filipino's
mind, to emanate Rizal as he peacefully fought for freedom, and not to go against religion.Senators
Lorenso Tanada, Quintin Paredes and Domocao Alonto of Mindanao also defended Rizal Bill which was
also favored byRepresentatives from the House namely Congressmen Jacobo Gonzales, Emilio Cortez,
Mario Bengson, Joaquin Roxas, LancapLagumbay and Pedro Lopez. Other supporters of the bill were
Mayor Arsenio Lacson call anti-rizal bill "bigoted and intolerant" andwalked out of a mass when the
priest read a pastoral letter from the Archbishop denouncing the Rizal Bill aqnd General EmilioAguinaldo
with groups like the Knights of Rizal, Women Writers of the Verrnacular, Philippine Veterans Legion,
Colleger Editors'Guild and Philippine School Teachers' Association.Excitement and intense scnenes were
eventually arisen in settling the Rizal Bill. One of which was the debate of CebuRepresentative Ramon
Durano and Pampanga Representative Emilio Cortes that ended with a fistfight in Congress. Bacolod
CityBishop Manuel Yap threatened to campaign against pro-rizal bill legislators nad to punish them in
future elections. Catholic SchoolsRepresentatives threatened to close down their schools if the Rizal Bill
was passed. Recto told them that if they did, the State couldnationalize the catholic schools. When there
was a proposal to use the expurgated novels as textbooks and put the original copiesunder lock and key
in the school libraries, Recto rejected this amendment and expressed:"The people who would eliminate
the books of Rizal from the schools...would bot out from our minds the memory of thenational
hero...this is not a fight against Recto but a fight against Rizal...now that Rizal is dead and they can no
longer attempt at hislife, they are attempting to blot out his memory."Due to apparently never-ending
debate on the Rizal Bill, approved amendments were formulated through ideas of threesenators.
Senator Laurel' created an amendment to the original bill in which, other that Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo,works written by Rizal and works wriiten by others about Rizal would be included and
reading of the unexpurgated revision of thetwo novels would no longer be compulsory to elementary
and secondary levels but would be strictly observed to college level.Senator Lim suggested the
exemption to those students who feel that reading Rizal's novels would negatively affect his or her
faith.Senator Primicias created an additional amendment that promulgates the rules and regulations in
getting an exemption only fromreading the two novels through written statement or affidavit and not
from taking the Rizal Course. According to historian AmbethOcampo, no student has ever availed of this
exemption. After the revised amendments
, the bill was finally passed on May 17, 1956and was signed into law as Republic Act 1425 by President
Ramon Magsaysay on June 12 of the same year