Rizal's Knights Defend Bonifacio's Monument

KAMALAYSAYAN
KAISAHAN SA KAMALAYAN SA KASAYSAYAN
(Solidarity on Sense of History)

PRESS STATEMENT
October 10, 2009

KAMALAYSAYAN LAUDS KNIGHTS OF RIZAL PROTEST VS.DESECRATION OF BONIFACIO MONUMENT

The KAMALAYSAYAN Solidarity on Sense of History salutes the Knights of Rizal for its recent resolution “informing the concerned government authorities about, and strongly protesting against, the desecration of the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City with the construction of MRT structures very close to the Monumento in that City.”

This historic resolution represents a significant move by top followers of Jose Rizal in uniting with followers of Andres Bonifacio by taking the cudgels to defend the dignity of the latter’s grand monument at the northern gateway of the Metropolitan Manila area, the most major work of National Artist for Sculpture Guillermo Tolentino.

The Knights’ move is a noble gesture contributory to the unification of the followers of the two most prominent Philippine heroes, who have been the subject of an artificial competition scheme imposed on them by ill-advised history scholars and aficionados. KAMALAYSAYAN has long been campaigning for the Filipino people to resist the ill-advised tendency promoted by divisive elements of our society to pit Rizal and Bonifacio against each other.

As a plenary speaker during the Knights’ International Assembly held in Calamba City, Laguna last February, I had reason to choose this KAMALAYSAYAN call as the central theme of my talk. If that talk of mine in the City Hall of Calamba last February had anything to do with this resolution of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Rizal, then it proves that Rizal and his official followers are not to be identified only with ideas and ideals but also with action. Conversely, we all ought to realize by now that Bonifacio should not be limited to decisive actions because his decision to start the revolutionary Katipunan in July 1892 the day after Rizal’s arrest for exile in Dapitan was not at all a precipitate knee-jerk move, as proven by the fact that the Katipunan first took four long years to prepare the people morally and ideologically for Revolution before starting the “Unang Sigaw” in August 1896. KKK’s armed struggle was almost completely victorious across the entire archipelago before another two year were over.

The Order of the Knights of Rizal, which was created by Republic Act 646, protested that the ongoing construction work and the expected finished product of the extension of the Metropolitan Light Rail Transit from its North Avenue station in Quezon City, to interlink with the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) at the Monumento station” at Grace Park in Caloocan “would have the effect of denigrating the grandiose prominence and profound solemnity intended to surround the 75-year-old Bonifacio-Katipunan in Grace Park in that City).”
The KOR resolution was signed last on October 6 by Sir Virgilio Esguerra, KGCR, Supreme Commander, and Samuel Samuela, KGOR, Supreme Pursuivant, and a copy was sent to Kamalaysayan by fax to me at the International Academy of Management and Economics (IAME) in Makati where I have been teaching Philippine History and the Rizal Course.

KALAMALAYSAYAN congratulates Rolando Ocampo, initiator and pointperson of the Caloocan based community group calling on all Filipinos anywhere they are in the world to come to the defense of the sacred monument that memorializes not only Bonifacio but the entire Katipunan and the heroes of the Filipino people as well as the entire process of the birth of the nation in the 1896 Revolution of which all Filipinos have reason to be proud.”

It was the impassioned work of Ocampo, himself a KAMALAYSAYAN member, that has has drawn some action from the respective offices of Sens. Manuel Roxas III and Loren Legarda as well as of the Heritage Conservation Society led by Miss Gemma Cruz-Araneta. Rollie’s work also gave me some materials for my Calamba speech last February and he delivered a moving presentation some months ago before a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Rizal at the order’s Intramuros headquarters, after which the Council members decided to pass this resolution that KAMALAYSAYAN is now celebrating as a one of profound historical value. Let all other hero-specific civic organizations follow the Knights’ example to unify our belief in the Filipino people’s collective heroism.

In the name of KAMALAYSAYAN and our incumbent chairman, Prof. Bernard L.M. Karganilla of the University of the Philippines Manila, I also seek to join Ocampo in his call for the major political and cause-oriented groups in the country, notably the Bagong Alyansang Bayan (BAYAN) and the Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party, to include the defense of the Monumento’s dignity (against a growing culture focused on profit and convenience) among these groups’ urgent concerns. To ignore this issue would be to send an unfortunate signal to the people that developing a keen sense of history and national honor is not among their respective sets of priorities. KAMALAYSAYAN also seeks to invite all interested parties to a short meeting on Sunday, October 18, at one of the chain food shops in the Araneta Square beside the Monumento itself in Caloocan City.

Prof. Ed Aurelio C. Reyes
Lead Founder and National Spokesperson
Kalalaysayan Solidarity on Sense of History
October 9, 2009


To read more information on the Monumento,
please click http://demands-dignity.8m.net/karganilla.htm