In the face of the raging issue on gambling, we can turn to our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, for some enlightenment. With a dash of humor. Rizaleños and the Rizal provincial government have never supported the idea of small town lotteries and its twin sister, the illegal jueteng numbers game. With strong support from the Philippine National Police, Church groups, local government units, and civic organizations, the province has managed to stay out of the list of places in the country plagued by jueteng. We had always believed that our national hero, after whom our province was named, would have never placed a bet in his entire life; would have never gambled.
Until somebody challenged that view. Dr. Rizal did place a bet, we were told. Here's how that story goes. We were told that when Dr. Rizal was in exile in Dapitan City, he did buy a lottery ticket. It was bought from a Spaniard who came to Dapitan City to sell those tickets. Dr. Rizal shared the purchase price of the lottery ticket with another Spaniard and the politico-military governor of that place. And he won! Some say it was second prize - a whopping P20,000.00. It was the 1890s so that must be worth millions today. The story says he shared that prize with his two co-bettors. The national hero's share: P6,200.00. It appears our national hero was a believer in the "balato." The story says he shared part of that prize with his father and a friend from Hong Kong. The rest was invested in real estate, small enterprises, and in the house that still stands in Dapitan City today and now known as the Rizal shrine.
Dr. Rizal must have been the original Filipino countryside investor-entrepreneur. Back to the "gambling" angle. The person who told us this lesser-known episode in our national hero's life had wanted to debunk our belief that Dr. Rizal was not a patron of gambling. He did buy a lottery ticket, the story-teller insisted. We did not want to indulge in an inutile speculation on the possible motive behind our national hero's purchase of that lottery ticket. And we insist that we have one piece of solid evidence that Dr. Rizal did not believe in gambling. Here's the evidence. We were told that in the main building of the Rizal Shrine in Dapitan City, one would find nailed to the wall a frame bearing this valuable artefact which belongs to our national hero. That material is entitled "Rizal's Code of Ethics." Dr. Rizal must have written that while in exile in that beautiful corner of Mindanao. There are 14 entries in that Code. And when one reads them, one would see that Dr. Rizal knew the cure for many of the Filipinos' woes. Here are the top 5 entries in that Code. Number 5: "Don't be a rabid partisan." Number 4: "Don't be cruel in any way." Number 3: "Don't break the laws." Number 2: "Don't be a drunkard." And here is the number 1 entry in Dr. Rizal's Code of Ethics: "Don't gamble." We rest our case. The issue is settled. Our national hero won't countenance gambling. No to small-town lottery. No to jueteng. And the view from Rizal (the hero and the province) is that the former won't stop the latter, and may even serve as a cover for the perpetuation of the illegal numbers game.
Dr. Rizal, educator Speaking of Dapitan City, that must have been the place which brought out the educator in our national hero. There, he established an informal school for boys in 1894 where he taught them reading, mathematics, the sciences - even art and sports. His approach was integrated, holistic education. Dr. Rizal must have been the inventor of the concept of "working students" in our country. In a letter to his friend Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt, our national hero said his wards "were eager to learn even if they have to work in order to study under me." Many of the distinguished families of Dapitan City today are descendants of those "working students" who studied under that city's most famous migrant teacher.
Dr. Rizal clearly believed that the way out of poverty is not luck in gambling, but education. He said that to many young Filipinos of his time - including the Women of Malolos, the pioneers in the country's move towards women empowerment. To Dr. Rizal, teachers are the key to liberation - from ignorance and poverty. As liberators, teachers are heroes. Like him. Last Tuesday, October 5, the country joined the rest of the international community in marking World Teachers Day. The celebration's theme was "Our teachers, our heroes." Since our teachers are in the mold of Rizal, they can be no less. (provinceofrizal@yahoo.com)
