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Rizal - A proponent of
Solidarity
(Full
text of speech delivered by Sir Venancio del Pilar Faundo, KCR, Commander
for Ajax Chapter, Ontario Canada on June 17, 2007 at the Rizal Monument in
Toronto in honor of Rizal on his 146th Birth Anniversary. Sir Faundo is a
"Rizalist by blood" being a direct descendant of Marcelo H. del
Pilar. Rizal's co-propagandist is Sir Faundo's great grand father. Ed)
Thank
you,
Sir Jun
Zerrudo….. Good morning, Honorable Lui Temelovski, Sir Ed Joaquin, Canadian ladies for Rizal, fellow admirers of
Rizal from neighboring cities and faraway
Windsor
led by Sir Tony Doctor, my better half
Winnie, friends, ladies and gentlemen.
Together
with you all, I would like to offer my greeting and felicitation to our
great Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal on
the occasion of his 146th birthday, had he been alive today.
For me, a Rizalist and many others like you, he is still alive, his ideals
still burn in our hearts; worthy to be followed and emulated especially
today when the organization founded in his honor is besieged and wracked
with problems and troubles in its governance.
For
most of you from the GTA, my name at least , is familiar because I wrote
an essay on Rizal. It was disseminated on e-mails and published in BALITA
newspaper last March. Some readers suggested a symposium on
the topic of my essay. “The Malaise of Filipinos – Lack of
Solidarity” and today is an opportune time to speak about it although
not in a symposium format.
My
name is Venancio del Pilar Faundo, born in Hagonoy Bulacan, A descendant
of the Del Pilars of Bulacan…Marcelo, Gregorio
and Pio. I am the current holdover chapter commander of
Ajax
and a Life-time member of the knights of
Rizal.
Dr.
Jose Rizal and my great grandfather Marcelo H. del Pilar had a remarkable
association and friendship with each other. Marcelo gave Rizal a picture
of himself with dedication: to my illustrious friend Dr. Jose Rizal,
signed : Marcelo H. del Pilar. Rizal in turn, praised del Pilar in a
letter “ It is too bad that there were no one hundred other men like
Marcelo“ These two together with Mariano Ponce, The Lunas Antonio and
Juan, Graciano Lopez- Jaena shouldered the Propaganda Movement, La
Solidaridad with its periodical
of the same name, Why the name “ La Solidaridad “ ? The name is self
explanatory – the meaning and the aim is to establish a united front,
setting aside personal differences to achieve a common goal. - the
betterment of the
Philippines
and its people. The movement did not
produce the immediate fulfillment of their ideals and aspiration unlike
the Solidarnosc of Lech Walesa of Poland who
freed themselves of communism and had Walesa elected president of
Poland
. Whether
they acknowledged the germ idea from Rizal, del Pilar – Lopez
Jaena’s La Solidaridad or whether the Poles realized that
there had been a political movement like theirs before, we do not know.
One thing for sure, the Filipinos had thought of it first.
Unfortunately,
there came about the polarization of the adherents of these two TITANS of
Filipino propaganda. Rizal was
criticized as a Pikon or oversensitive, and Marcelo as the better
of the two in regards to political astuteness and acumen as pointed out to
me by Sir Voltaire deLeon of the Society of Rizal. However, they remained
steadfast friends. And to Rizal’s credit and magnanimous character, he
tendered his resignation letter to preserve solidarity, to preclude the
friars perception of dissension among the Filipino propagandists. In
it he wrote to del Pilar “ I deemed it very necessary that there must be
unity. Since you’re the head, although I have my own ideas, it is better
for you to enforce the rules an
d r
egulation according to your understanding.
I will not interfere; go ahead since you’re the chief. Use your
authority to achieve success in your undertaking. My resignation does not
mean war. Rizal did not force
himself on the organization. Instead,
he wholeheartedly supported the association in its work and plan.
He continued to attend meetings, seated at the rear as long as
possible. For him, governance
without unity and democratic consensus was impractical.
The attitude exhibited by Rizal showed his understanding
personality and gentleman’s care for solidarity.
He
was not only a genius in literature. medicine, science and languages but
also in people skill - a genius in acquiescence.
He intimated in a letter to Mariano Ponce that he was not immuned
to the temptation of accepting his countrymen’s invitation to lead an
organization. However his
personal belief was that self – aggrandizement had no place in the
service for patriotic achievement.
When
Rizal returned to the
Philippines
in July of 1892, he founded La Liga
Filipina with the help of fellow patriots like Mabini, Arellano,
Salvador
and others.
He wrote its constitution with the expressed aim among other things
of uniting the whole archipelago into one compact, vigorous and
homogeneous body. He
personally conceived its motto “ UNUS INSTAR OMNIUM meaning “ ONE LIKE
ALL “ – his idea being the equalization of each member – solidarity
in the best term, solidifying all individual aspirations and strengths to
one united aim. The different
ranking is supposed to be treated only like a necessary evil for the
purpose of job responsibility and no one is beholden to anybody.
Nobody aspires for personal glory due to the rank and title in the
hierarchy.
With
the present sorry state of the OKR , chartered under Republic Act 646 to
honor Rizal, it is sad to say
that nationally it was in shambles for the past few years.
Fortunately today but still much to be desired, there is a
semblance of unity in its governance. Internationally however, the Order
is on the verge of splintering up – its solidarity breaking up.
The Order has to be international because Rizal belongs to all
freedom loving people. He is a
shining example of effectively passive resistance to an oppressing
government in the mold of Ghandi, Sun Yat Sen and others.
The root cause of this international squabble, is the inappropriate
appointment of regional commanders in
Europe
,
Canada
and the
Middle East
. One
blatant example in point is the case of Sir
Lino
Paras in
Europe
, whose anomalous
appointment precipitated the resignations from the OKR of various
distinguished knights from Chapters
in
Germany
and
Belgium
. To
mention a few : Sir Dr. Fritz Hack-Ullmer, a direct descendant of
Rizal friend Pastor Hack Ullmer and a recipient of the Philippine
Order of Sikatuna; Another is Sir Manfred Holtzmann former mayor of
Wilhemsfeld City who built a Rizal Park in that city ; another is Sir
Klaus W. Hartung, KGORa former regional commander for Europe.
If our position an
d r
ank is the cause of misunderstanding and dissension among the rank and
file of the organization, for the sake of solidarity – for the sake of
common decency, let’s tender our courtesy resignation just like what
Rizal did way back in 1889. Rizal was then the honorary president of La
Solidaridad and Del Pilar was its editor in chief.
As my friend Sir Joe Luzadas, an outstanding historian in his own
right, said in his letter to me that some self professed Rizalians do not
observe a “cultured’
attitude, treatment and friendly rivalry practiced by the men of the past
like Rizal, DelPilar, the Lunas and LopezJaena when they were in
Europe
during the propaganda movement of the
1890s.
So
in our own little way, let’s call and work for a new mandate and
new beginning for the Order to prosper and continue its course without the
burden of ranklings and ego-clashing.
Let’s adhere more to
the motto, which Rizal made as embodiment of himself, UNUS INSTAR OMNIUM-
ONE LIKE ALL more than the
present motto of OKR “NON OMNIS MORIAR- NOT ALL IN ME DIES “ written
by the Roman historian Livy, which I think is geared more to perpetuating
one’s personal legacy. Let
us remember today, and the days to come that Rizal is not only a PROPONENT
of SOLIDARITY of purpose and
spirit, SOLIDARITY of
organization, SOLIDARITY of
the Filipino people and all freedom loving nations, but also its BEST and
FOREMOST PRACTITIONER.
Thank
you.
Gallery:
Rizal's 146th Birth Anniversary in Toronto       
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