Rizal is considered a towering figure in the Philippines for his many academic and intellectual achievements. He excelled in many fields including medicine, art, poetry, novels, and more. He fought against Spanish colonial rule through his writings, which helped inspire the nationalist movement. While advocating for peaceful reform, his execution made him a martyr and galvanized the revolution. To this day, he remains one of the most important figures in Philippine history and a symbol of nationalism.

1. Why Rizal a towering figure in the Philippines?
Rizal is a towering figure in the Philippines because of his many
achievements in life. He is a unique example of a many-splendored genius who
became the greatest hero in our nation. He is endowed by God with versatile
gifts that he ranked as the world’s geniuses. He was a physician (ophthalmic
surgeon), poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist, historian, architect, painter,
sculptor, educator, linguist, musician, naturalist, ethnologist, surveyor,
engineer, farmer businessman, economist, geographer, cartographer,
bibliophile, philologist, grammarian, folklorist, philosopher, translator,
inventor, magician, humorist, satirist, polemicist, sportsman, traveller, and
prophet. Above and beyond all these, he was a hero and political martyr who
consecrated his life for the redemption of his oppressed people.
Rizal also became a towering figure in the Philippines because of his
religious aspect. He is a scion of a Catholic clan, born and bred in a wholesome
atmosphere of Catholicism, and possessed of an inborn pious spirit. He grew
up a good Catholic, and the very evidence of this was that Rizal at the age of
three has begun to take part in the family prayers.
The artistic talents of Rizal are one of the reasons why Rizal is a towering
figure. Since early childhood Rizal revealed his God- given talent for art. In
which at the age of five, he began to make sketches with his pencil and to
mould in clay and wax objects which attracted his fancy.
Rizal was best student in school. In academic studies, Jose beat all Binan
boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other subjects. And this
achievement has continued when he enters Ateñeo de Manila. In which Rizal
graduated at the head of his class, his scholastic records at the Ateñeo from
1872-1877 were as follows:
1872-1873
Arithmetic.............................................................................Excellent
Latin I................................................................................... “
Spanish I.............................................................................. “
Greek I................................................................................. “

2. 1873-1874
Latin 2..................................................................................Excellent
Spanish 2............................................................................. “
Greek 2................................................................................ “
Universal Geography............................................................ “
1874-1875
Latin 3.................................................................................Excellent
Spanish 3............................................................................ “
Greek 3............................................................................... “
Universal History................................................................. “
History of Spain and the Philippines
Arithmetic and Algebra.................................... “
1875-1876
Rhetoric and Poetry..............................................................Excellent
French I................................................................................ “
Geometry and Trigonometry................................................. “
1876-1877
Philosophy I.........................................................................Excellent
Mineralogy and Chemistry................................................... “
Philosophy 2........................................................................ “
Physics................................................................................ “
Botany and Zoology............................................................. “
And on Commencement Day, March 23, 1877, Rizal, who was 16 years old,
received from his Alma Mater, Ateneo Municipal, the degree of Bachelor of Arts
with highest honors.
Rizal also was good in writing. It was Dona Teodora who first discovered
the poetical genius of his son, and it was also her who first encouraged him to
write poems. However, it was Father Sanchez who inspired Rizal to make full
use of his God-given gift in poetry and improved the latter’s poetical art by
opening his mind to be enriching influence of the world’s literature.
It was Jose Rizal, as a political figure, initiated a civic organization - La
Liga Filipina, to promote unity among Filipino students and those interested in
Filipino cultures which subsequently give birth to the Katipunan led by

3. Bonifacio and Aguinaldo. He was a proponent of institutional reforms by
peaceful means rather than by violent revolution. The general consensus among
Rizal scholars, however, attributed his martyred death as the catalyst that
precipitated the revolution in the Philippines.
Among men of wisdom and legendary heroes, Jose Rizal stood tall with
Demosthenes of Greece who shouted against the Macedonian conquest, with
Victor Hugo of France who defended the Magna Carta, with Abraham Lincoln of
the United States of America who abolished slavery. Jose Rizal bravely exposed
and fought the repressive Spanish rule and paid with his life that very day on
December 30, 1896, three hundred years after the Spanish domination of our
country.
The fight for freedom, human rights and unity in this world is never
ending. All these speak of the inherent desire of men, of peoples of the world,
be it in the prehistoric days or in the atomic/nuclear and cyber age, their desire
to be free. Our forefathers down to Dr. Rizal wielded their pens and swords in
their quest for freedom from the Spanish conquerors. The hero-contemporaries
of our past, with Rizal as the towering figure, exemplified the essence of
democracy divinely gifted with the boon of unity, which solidifies its whole
fabric.
At age eighteen, Jose Rizal in a prize-winning nationalistic poem addressed
to the Filipino youth entitled, A la Juventud Filipina, he called upon them as the
fair hope of the Fatherland, challenging them to higher aspirations, and to
unshackle their chains in order to build nationhood. We must never forget of
the two novels he wrote, 170 passages in the Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not)
and 50 passages in the El Filibusterismo (the Subversive) to fight for our rights
and the political resolution of the problems that the Spaniards abused the
Filipinos.
These are social commentaries on our country, the Philippines, which
formed the nucleus of literature that inspired dissent among peaceful
reformists and spurred the militancy of armed revolutionaries against the
Spanish colonial authorities. These writings gave him “immortality in the eyes of
his people and compatriots, but made him a target of ecclesiastical vengeance.”

4. The desire for freedom and liberty was Dr. Rizal’s zeal and clarion call to
inspire his countrymen while he was away from his country, to be aware, to be
engaged, and to be involved in the events happening in the Fatherland. This
was what Dr. Jose Rizal stood for.
At age nineteen as a third-year medical student in Manila, the young Jose
formed a university fraternity called El Compañerismo to promote civic and
patriotic education, mutual aid, and cooperation. While in Madrid, Spain, he
again did this time, put fuel on the spirit of patriotism and sense of pride and
purpose in his Filipino co-students.
He dreamt the dreams of freedom in the Philippines as enunciated by the
tenets of the French Revolution, that of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité; ("Liberty,
equality, fraternity (brotherhood)", - the national motto of France. We must
learn from Dr. Rizal who championed the tenets of unity.
In fact when Rizal was elected responsible (chief) of the association of
Filipinos in Madrid during his college days over his colleague, Marcelo H. del
Pilar, who wanted the position very much, he abdicated the position in favor of
del Pilar and stated, “I do wish you to give your full support and cooperation to
my dear colleague Marcelo. Let us be united in our efforts to liberate our
country”.
No pun intended, I would like to think that the legacy of Rizal has
influenced the Filipinos to an appointment with destiny. On the eve of his
execution, while confined in Fort Santiago, Rizal wrote “Último Adiós” (“Last
Farewell”), a masterpiece of 19th-century Spanish verse. His last word- “to die
is to rest”.
Why he was worshipped after death?
Rizal was worshipped after death because of his exceptional service to
mankind, and even before the execution, Rizal was acclaimed by both Filipinos
and foreigners as the foremost leader of his people. This proves that the pen is
being mightier and more powerful than a sword, because it seldom to know
that there is a person who is willing to die for his countrymen.

5. A death, that brings freedom to our country Philippines under the cruelty
of the Spaniards. A bravery of him that leads his death because he is the most
intelligent, most courageous, and most dangerous enemy of the reactionaries
and the tyrants; therefore, he should be shot publicity in order to serve as an
example and a warning of his kind.
His death was a statement of courage, love of country, pride of honor.
The big stepping stone that made Filipinos one people in one nation, bringing
dishonour to Spain’s colonial rule.
That’s the reason why Rizal was worshipped after death.
He be a HERO?
Why?
Yes
Rizal is a hero because as a towering figure who took a big part in the
lives of many Filipino people whom until now we being enjoy, the freedom
against the Spanish tyranny and is said that no Filipino has yet been born who
could equal or surpass Rizal as a person of distinguished valor or enterprise in
danger or fortitude in suffering.
Both Filipino’s and foreigners acclaimed Rizal as bthe foremost leader of
his people. Rizal was the greatest Filipino hero that ever lived becxause he was
the most intelligent, most courageous, and most dangerous enemyof the
reactionaries and the tyrants; and the main reason why Rizal is our hero is that
he is a man that honored after death because of his exceptional service to
mankind.
Rizal leadership was recognized by his countrymen here and abroad, he
became a chief of the indios bravos, he was chosen as responsible (chief) of the
Spanish-Filipino Association and Rizal was the founder and moving spirit in the
founding of Liga Filipina in Manila. His memory will never perish in his
fatherland, and future generations of Spaniards will yet learn to utter his with
respect and reverence. And throughout the islands, public schools teach the
young Filipino’s to revere his memory as the greatest Filipino patriots “Rizal
Avenue” one of the longest and most important streets in Manila that has been
name after him.

6. Now and then some Filipino who said that Andres Bonifacio deserves to
be acknowledged and canonized as our first national hero, and not Dr. Jose
Rizal, it’s because that Rizal never held a gun, a rifle or a sword in fighting for
the liberty in the battlefield they further assert is that in other countries are
soldier-generals, like George Washington of United States as their national hero
but in exercising their good sense an independent judgments have not followed
the example of other nations in selecting and acknowledging a military leader
being a greatest hero.
But the questions who made Rizal a foremost hero remains
unanswerable. Because no amount of adulation and canonization by both
Filipinos and foreigners could convert Rizal into a great hero if he did not
possess in himself that was “Palma calls” excellent qualities and merits that no
single person or groups of person were responsible for making the greatest
hero is Rizal himself, his own people and the foreigners together contributed to
make him the greatest hero and martyr of his countrymen.
Right after he was chosen as our national hero, hundreds of Rizal’s
monuments went up in the central plazas of every town. At last we had a pariot
to look up, standing, dressed in an elegant suit, a universal man, a fabled hero
who ranks with the best in world.
That Jose Rizal!

7. Submitted To:
Atty. Norberto Deguit Montecino
Submitted By:
Sedantes, Iris Villagonzalo