Joshlyn Joy R.

Tigon
May 23, 2018
2015-11275
PI 100
Final Paper: On Rizal’s concept of Nationalism

As Floro Quibuyen states in his essay Rizal’s Concept of the Filipino Nation, Jose
Rizal’s concept of a national community is one founded on virtue and sacrifice. As a matter
of fact, this same sentiment of Rizal was stated in his letter to the women of Malolos who
insisted their aptitude in political and social reforms through their movement on educational
reform, insisting their want to pursue higher education. It says, “Unang una. Nagiging taksil
ang ilan dahil sa kaduwagan at kapabayaan ng iba.” I believe this can be taken into different
contexts however I think it is possible to translate Rizal’s first instruction or reminder to the
women of Malolos in a way that says people betray either because of cowardice or neglect of
one’s responsibility as a citizen of the nation. And part of our responsibility is serving our
nation, and by nation it means the people of the nation not the authorities and ruling classes.
With this in mind, the group I chose to write about for this paper is the Central 911
employees. Central 911 is the emergency response team of Davao City, may it be road
accidents, fire accidents, or health incidents. The Central 911 is expected to be on call 24/7 in
case accidents would happen. It consists of nurses, paramedics, firemen, and administrative
employees. They are the people behind every accident response here in Davao City. My
mother is also a 911 employee. However, she works just behind the front line of 911 (e.g., the
nurses and paramedics, and firemen). She works in the Medical Supplies Liaison department
and is in-charge on preparing every medical supply needed inside the ambulances. They are
the ones expected to provide the medical supplies, check whether all the ambulance have
complete sets of medical supplies, and conduct inventories quarterly. So for this paper, I’ve
interviewed my mom, as a representative of the Central 911 employees.
A lot of people have this false notion that once you work in the government, you’d be
able to earn and save more since it provides a high salary. One truth that my mom stated
during the interview is that you’d be drowned in loans when you work under the government.
First, the salary always comes delayed. Their salary system is just like any other government
institution, wage is given to them every 15​th and 30​th of the month however in reality it is
often given a week or two after the 15​th and 30​th​. Second, just like any citizen in the country,
their taxes are deducted from the salary. So for my mom, exactly Php 1,961 has to be
deducted from her Php 7, 800 monthly salary. So we are left with Php 5,800 for our daily
expenditures and existing loan payments, and it is not enough for a family of four who only
has one person who earns daily income. I know there are hundreds of families who earns less
than our family does, who suffers more than we do however I think it’s not a matter of
invalidating others’ financial challenges, for despite the amount of money my mom earns, we
still are drowned in loans and financial difficulties. This predicament doesn’t only apply on
my mom or on our family, most of the 911 employees experiences the same challenges.
Most 911 employees work for 24 hours every other day since the nature of their work
requires 24/7 assistance. They have approximately two runs (the term they use on responding
to an emergency) within 24 hours. Thus there are nights that they have to sacrifice their nap
time to attend to the emergencies or whenever there is an upcoming event in the city, for
example during the Araw ng Dabaw, the employees did not have sleep for two days prior 16​th
of March since they have to prepare every ambulance, including every back up for the event.
In a daily basis, they also rarely have time to sleep during their duty, and they have one
day-off before going on duty again.
Last year, the government provides supplies such as rice, coffee sachets, canned sardines,
and noodles in every department since they work for 24 hours however as this year started,
the city government halted their provision of basic goods in the institution to allocate the
funds on the _________ instead. Thus they have to spend on their own food on work, which
is also became a factor why their salary isn’t enough to provide their needs including their
families since they have additional expenses on food during work.
Lastly, they don’t have off during the holidays. The employees still work for 24 hours
even when its Christmas, Holy Week, and any other holidays. They don’t have special
day-offs since their profession, the nature of their work requires 24/7 assistance so they do
not have a choice but to work on days they could have spent with their family instead.
If Rizal’s concept of nationalism requires virtue and sacrifice, are these sacrifices made
by these workers “sacrifice” enough? Are these sacrifices enough to prove that they are
Filipino enough? They practically sacrifice their sleep to serve the people 24/7, whenever
they need the help. They sacrifice their personal afflictions by disregarding how the salary is
not enough to support them because, as what my interviewee said, many of the employees
really work in Central 911 because its their passion. Those nurses rather work for the masses
than the privileged classes in some private hospitals. They settle in such little salary, but
gives their full energy in performing their work. They sacrifice their time which they could
have spent with their own families and enjoying life, but instead they spent it on being awake
and alert for almost 24 hours in case an accident happens, and responses and performs with
agility in crises. They accepted the halting of city government’s provision of daily supplies if
it meant the funds are going to the people who needs it the most. It can actually be considered
that these people are being selfless, that despite the low salary, their own financial challenges,
their sacrifice of rest which often lead to health deterioration, and time, they still continue on
doing the job with a heart that is willing to serve.
As stated by Johan Gottfried Herder, one of Rizal’s inspiration on his formulation of
concept of Nationalism, innate desire and duty coincide in the fulfillment of human potential.
We can consider that these group of individuals, Central 911 workers, actually have the
innate desire to continue serving the people that they disregard the disadvantages they get
from their job and focuses instead on fulfilling their roles. Their duty, which is a public
servant, and can even be considered “public servants” way more than the politicians who
have achieved position in the government who calls themselves public servants and swore
there dedication in serving the masses which they did not effectuate. These workers have
fulfilled their human potential, is this Filipino enough for Jose Rizal? Are these people
qualified on Rizal’s standard of a true Filipino, a nationalist?
Personally, I think these kind of people who actually selflessly and genuinely devote
their selves in serving the people are the ones who deserves the veneration. It’s because these
actual people are the ones serving the nation, the masses. I don’t mean to invalidate other
possible ways on how we can serve our country and show our patriotism, and I don’t mean to
say it should be the only way of serving the country, lending our physical strength to provide
strength to the masses who are in need. As a matter of fact, some actually considers this as
the lowest form of action of nationalism. Nonetheless, I think these kind of people who
desires serving the masses and is willing to dedicate their time and energy into it are the
people that we need these days. We need these people who render service without thinking
too much of the benefit that they could get from it. We need people who aims to help people
in ameliorating their current state in life. Because these are the kind of people we need in this
kind of society wherein our own democracy is being taken away from us, our government is
headed by people who no longer serves the interest of the greater good but their own personal
interests instead, and every sector of the society is continuously being oppressed (e.g.,
women, lgbtq+, poverty-stricken citizens, OFWs, et al).
We need these people who has the innate desire to perform the duty to serve and is
willing to sacrifice because these people could be the greatest part of every movement that
aims for the betterment of our nation. These people, if will be aware of how oppressed we all
are in the kind of society or nation turned to be, could be the people who will lead
movements against oppressive government, anything that is against the amelioration of the
state of the masses, of the nation. As Renato Constantino stated, heroism isn’t only about Jose
Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, etc. The people who were part of the revolution are heroes. It’s
through them the revolution was made possible, and through the collective action we
achieved our independence. Today, it’s also the people we need. And these people could be
us, if we could have the desire to serve the masses, if we could have the courage to go against
the oppressive force of the society, in 100 years or so maybe we can have a better nation than
what we are now.