Jose Rizal, the National Hero

Jose Rizal is unquestionably a great hero and the greatest among the Filipinos.

Whether or not the Americans supported Rizal to be selected as the Philippine National Hero, he himself was already acclaimed as the most significant leader of his people before his dramatic death in Luneta on December 30, 1896 . He have already possessed in himself the greatness and courage a hero must have. 

Jose P. Rizal is a prominent figure who took an admirable part in the Propaganda Campaign. The Katipunan made Rizal their Honorary President for his great leadership and made his last name "Rizal" as a password for the third-degree members (Bayani). He was ready to face danger that he refused to escape several times when he was in Dapitan and on his way to Cuba. On the day of his execution, he walked with perfect calm to the firing line.

Some argued that Andrés Bonifacio, not Jose Rizal, should be the National Hero because he served his cause with a sword to fight against the foreign power like all other heroes of the Occidental. But, we all know that Bonifacio's revolution was only the effect created by Rizal's writings (Noli Me Tangere & El Filibusterismo).  Not only that. Although Bonifacio's sword had immediate results, Rizal's pen has more lasting achievements.

In parallel to Rizal's "The pen is mightier than the sword", Napoleon I said: "There are only two powers in the world, the sword and the pen; and in the end the former is always conquered by the latter."