Year's end, or adieu to Rizal's 150th

As the holiday season comes full circle and the year swings to a close, let’s not forget to remember what made 2011 an especially remarkable one. No, it wasn’t the dream match-up between the Azkals and LA Galaxy; nor even Arroyo’s house arrest and ongoing court case for electoral sabotage. And while the order for Jovito Palparan’s arrest was almost as heartwarming as the outpouring of support for the victims of typhoon Sendong, that wasn’t the defining feature of 2011, either. Of course, it could be any number of personal reasons ranging from a successful business venture to finishing your bucket list to finally getting around to using that treadmill… then again, those are different stories altogether.

Before we forget, 2011 marked the 150th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal, our very own Renaissance man and the figure hailed as “The First Filipino.” This was a year filled with celebrations and contests, conferences and articles, exhibits and productions all in memory of the national hero; and indeed, most everyone started reopening long-forgotten copies of the Noli and Fili lest they be called unpatriotic in any way. But the fervor of the year has by now died down, and it remains to be seen whether the renewed spirit of Rizal can carry over to 2012, or simply fizzle out like all our half-baked ideas of progress and change.

Senator Ed Angara and F. Sionil Jose, partners in cultural rehabilitation Photo from Sen. Angara

Earlier this month I was fortunate enough to be invited to the 150th Jose Rizal Anniversary Conference on Nation and Culture, the brainchild of our tireless National Artist for Literature, F. Sionil Jose. And as can be expected when several of the country’s most prominent literati come together for a day, foremost on the agenda could only be one thing: the future. Tied to that, among others, was the issue of how the country’s cultural foundations could be strengthened and developed.

Now I know that for a lot of us disgruntled citizens, the problems plaguing our country can almost always be traced back to the astounding inefficiency of our government leaders, the lack of discipline among our fellow Pinoys, the relative primitiveness of our technology and industry, our messed-up colonial past… the list goes on. True, the aforementioned are all valid to some degree or another, but what most of us tend to completely bypass is the idea that our nation’s woes are also intertwined with our shaky appreciation of culture. Suffice it to say, we take our heritage for granted. We relegate Manila as the sole intermediary of our arts and culture, while absorbing anything and everything that Western hegemons filter down to us like so much toxic waste. It’s a shame, really.

Thus, before anything else, local culture has to be made excellent. And what stuck to me during the anniversary conference were the simple but striking words of Bai Salam Ibrahim — who said that culture, like the roots of a tree, needed first to set itself firmly in the earth so as not to be washed away.

Quotable and nice to mull over, but easier said than done, right? After all, the modern-day Pinoy might retort, our roots were planted and set long before any of us could do squat about it, so what would be the point? Indeed, as we become more and more immersed in today’s globalized culture, harking back to our roots just comes off as a tall and thoroughly forgettable order. 

On the other hand, however, who said anything about having to go all the way back in time to change things? The beauty of our culture lies in the fact that it’s already a fragmented, plural hodgepodge all in itself, and therefore, quite capable of going with the flow… up to a certain extent. Truly, though Melba Maggay has described our heritage as flamboyant, flexible, and distinguished by its plasticity and elasticity, it doesn’t mean we can simply let it swell up indiscriminately with every cultural artifact we come across. And there’s the rub, because as a people, we tend to do just that.

The good doctor as our 150 peso bill? If only, if only.

During the conference, both F. Sionil Jose and Senator Angara in their respective speeches mentioned how any hope of nation-building and national liberation can only be achieved once we liberate our sense of identity as Filipinos. Relating this to culture and the arts, F. Sionil stressed that it is in art where we find the most provocative articulation of our identity, something that gives us affinity with one another, and at the same time, renders tangible the issues and realities of our time. We’ve seen artists change the world with a single stroke of pen or brush; and in our case, it is the artists, not the business tycoons or government leaders, who build the nation, precisely because they have a hand in building our identity.

Suffice it to say, however, our sense of identity is shaky at best and nonexistent at worst. Especially abroad, we tend to hide our ethnicity; embarrassed and apologetic for the fact that we are Filipino, and nothing but. This, more than anything, must be refuted.

Now “nation,” “culture,” “identity” and “art” are slippery words, and can cleave to anything and everything under the sun. But Rizal’s greatness lies in the fact that he was proud to be Filipino; and from there able to come to terms with all the ambiguities inherent in these words. His art has seized the imagination of our nation since, well, forever; and at this point, the ball falls to us to carry his spirit on into the future.

Nothing breeds affinity more than an understanding of experiences; so for the New Year, why not try reading a few of our own local authors for a start? It’s a small step, sure. But in that way, at least if we can’t do anything about the roots, we’re slowly but surely working on the blossoming branches. And FYI, our Filipino writers (Rizal included — but you knew that already) are just brilliant.