Maxine Lei Marie S.

Dagcutan
1.
RA 1425, also commonly known as Rizal Law, was a law signed by Pres. Ramon
Magsaysay on June 12, 1956 that requires all schools in the country to include Rizal’s life, works
and writings in the curriculum. The rationale behind the law was that there is a need to rekindle
and deepen the sense of nationalism and freedom of the people, especially of the youth. The works
of Rizal, specifically Noli Mi Tangere and El Filibusterismo had not only been a source of
inspiration for the newborn patriots but also a great scene of intrigue. It is debatable whether the
books were only against the Catholicism of the Spanish era or the Catholic faith itself thus the
constant debate whether it is healthy for such works to be a staple in the Philippine curriculum.
There is also the peril of translation in which one cannot guarantee to move a text into a target
language while preserving as much possible of the quality and character, the ‘spirit’ of the original.
A tall order that involves the translator in the tricky task of carrying the distinctive character and
rhythms of a work, its style, tone, imagery and emphases, from the original language into a quite
other language that imposes its own demands of style, pace, and rhythms.
On the one hand lies the danger of alienating, or even baffling, the contemporary reader
with mystifying idioms and references, while on the other hand, ‘updating’ runs the risk of
hatching hideous anachronisms. So one may ask, why should a hero of such intrigue and works
full of risk be induced in the lessons of the Filipino students? The answer is simple, cultivation.
The law sought to cultivate character, discipline, and conscience and to teach the obligations of
citizenship. The law sought not only to provide not of the what, when and where but also the how
and why. It is to provide students a platform for personal cultivation of meaning to which were the
most important pieces of literature on its day as to what it means now. The life and works of Rizal
will serve as a constant reminder that time may have changed, technology may have advanced,
and Philippine history may have been written down with stories of different characters, time,
scenarios, and events. Yet the message and the theme of the story remained clear - Patriotism,
Nationalism, and Heroism. To this day, we have been fighting for our principle, and we have never
budged in. Filipinos are like diamonds, the more we chip it the more it shines.
2.
The Spartan woman in my life is my grandmother, born and raised in Leyte, she is the epitome of
grace, beauty and intelligence . Growing up she’s the very person I look up to, she set the standards
for the people I let in my life, showed bravery by pursuing a life in a city alien to her to provide a
better life for the family she loved. She was a woman of wisdom as she taught me that reading is
a girl’s best friend in a world of patriarchy, she tuned my first guitar and gave me my very first
pencil set, she is really a woman of talent and might. If I were to grow older, I wish to age as
gracefully as she did, full of life even as she take her dying breath she showed utmost strength and
proved to be a real life spartan woman.