Freedom and liberty: Rizal’s legacy, says Calamba official
CALAMBA CITY, Laguna, Dec. 30 (PNA) — Local leaders in Calamba City and Laguna joined the nation on Friday in celebrating the martyrdom and legacies of their compatriot, illustrious son and National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal in the city’s various Rizal historical landmarks, monuments, markers, plazas and national shrines.
Calamba City Vice Mayor Roseller Rizal led government officials, city hall employees, police, Department of Education (DepEd) contingents, military and police, Knights of Rizal, Rizalistas, women’s groups, students and youth movements and city folk during the early morning wreath-laying and floral offerings.
The simultaneous ceremonial events were conducted in the Plaza where the world’s tallest Rizal monument stands; at the Jose P. Rizal Memorial School, Barangay Sampalukan, Calamba Elementary School and the City College of Calamba and at the 120th Rizal Day commemorative program site at the Rizal Ancestral house and shrine in this city.
Following the wreath and floral offerings, Rizal Day was marked with the flag-raising, oath of allegiance to the flag, entry of colors and the ceremonial 21-gun salute and taps as well as the nationalistic songs played by the brass band and bugle corps, and the choral renditions by the Calamba City College Choir and Artists Inc.
Vice Mayor Rizal who led the welcome rites yearly said “it is always an honor to give this event its rightful place in the country’s history especially on the cultural legacy and the pride not only of Calamba City but of the entire race and nation.”
Rizal, in his speech, said Calamba City Mayor Justin Marc Chipeco could not join the morning rites as his wife gave birth to a baby girl on Rizal Day about the same time when the city sirens wailed, bullhorns sounded, bells rang and vehicles honked in tribute to Dr. Jose Rizal around 7 a.m.
Rizal said “remembering the Rizal Day occasion is not merely an obligation but the passion to keep the flame burning for love of the country’s rich history replete with heroes whose sacrifices paved the country’s freedom and independence.”
Rizal said the millennials and the new generation are in a position to never again allow foreign domination and suppress our freedom and stature as a developing country.
Rizal said “we should nurture our freedom and liberty, and the free expression to disprove that we are a weak race.”
He said National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal’s legacies of heroism and social reforms have been our guide and have goaded us to strive to be the best in the various fields of endeavor like Rizal who is a “global hero, the Filipino Juan’s idol.”
“It used to be that Pepe (Rizal’s nickname) was among those ridiculed as the inferior race of the “indios” during his time, yet his brilliance, love of country, heroism and the writings and works for nationhood are greatly admired not only by his compatriots but the entire world,” Vice Mayor Rizal said.
He said it is about time that we now have fellow Filipinos who made it big and are successful and recognized in the international arena to prove “we are a great race.” (PNA)
