Who made Dr jose rizal a national hero?

Answer 1

WHEN Jose Rizal was still alive, his countrymen had already looked up to him as their guide towards reforms, revolution, and independence from Spanish rule. And when he had died, it was also the Filipino people who eventually recognized him as their greatest national hero.

Andres Bonifacio, as the supreme leader of the Katipunan, he ordered that the word Rizal be used as the password of Bayani (Patriot), the highest-grade Katipunero; that Rizal's pictures be hung in the meeting hall of the Katipunan Supreme Council and in other meeting places; and that Rizal's name be used as a Katipunan cry for unity and liberty. He also elected Rizal as the Katipunan honorary president, and solicited Rizal's views regarding their plans against Spain. In early 1897, he issued a proclamation condemning the Spanish atrocities against Filipinos, and "the brutal execution of our most beloved countryman, the Honorable Jose Rizal."

General Emilio Aguinaldo and his comrades issued a proclamation in April 1898, whose concluding part said that Jose Rizal was the "greatest patriot our country has seen."

On Dec. 20, 1898, President Aguinaldo issued a decree designating December 30 as a national day of mourning "in memory of the great Filipino patriot Dr. Jose Rizal and others who faithfully loved the native land and were martyred by the former Spanish domination."

There is a theory which claims that it was the American colonial authorities, particularly William Howard Taft, who declared Rizal as the national hero, encouraged the cult venerating Rizal as the country's greatest patriot, and made December 30 a holiday.

The theory has it that because Taft, who arrived in the country on June 3, 1900, during a session of the Commission, decided that Rizal be the national hero, Rizal Day has become a public holiday since then. Taft's decision became the genesis of Rizal Day.

This theory is an insanity, if not stupidity, because how can the alleged decision of Taft making Rizal the national hero be the origin of Rizal Day when before Taft arrived in the country, the Filipinos had already recognized Rizal as their greatest patriot and had already celebrated December 30 as their first-ever national holiday?

For more, kindly visit these sites:

http://emanila.com/philippines/2009/08/25/the-rizal-cult-on-how-filipinos-created-their-national-hero/

http://www.filipinowriter.com/kultong-rizalismo-sanaysay-ni-jon-e-royeca