Street Children Education

The numbers are alarming: Approx. 25.000 street children live in the city of Manila, 6.000 of them girls. Every day, these children have to face violence, sexual abuse and physical exploitation.

Hoping for better living conditions, more and more families from the Philippines' countryside move to the urban area of Manila. But real life soon catches up with them: They do not find any work, have no place to stay. Entire families must live in the streets. To ensure their survival, children have to contribute to their family's income. To some parents, forcing their children into prostitution is the last resort.

Life in the streets...
Poverty and physical or sexual abuse are the main reasons for children to run away from home, hoping for a better life in the streets. But this life is dangerous: It does not take long until the girls and boys get caught in the vicious circle of violence and prostitution. Not attending school, their chances of finding a way back into settled life are few.





"Did I not give each of you his own torch,..."

"...The cause of the backwardness of Asia lies in the fact that there the women are ignorant, are slaves, While Europe and America are powerful because there the women are free and well educated and endowed with lucid intellect and strong will. We know that you lack instructive books; we know that nothing is added to your intellect, day by day, save that which is intended to dim its natural brightness; all this we know, hence our desire to bring you the light that illuminates your equals here in Europe. If that which I tell you does not provoke your anger, and if you will pay a little attention to it then, however dense the mist may that befogs our people, I will make the utmost efforts to have it dissipated by the bright rays of sun, which will light, though they may be dimmed.We shall not feel any fatigue if you help us: God, too, will help to scatter the mist, because he is the God of truth; He will restore to its pristine condition the fame of the Filipina in whom we now miss only a criterion of her own, because good qualities she has enough and to spare.

- To the Young Women of Malolos, February 22, 1889

Some Facts:

The youngest sister of Rizal is Soledad

The oldest sister of Rizal is Saturnina

Rizal's first poem is "Sa aking mga kababata"

The first novel of Rizal is his "Noli Me Tangere"

Rizal was just 35 years of age when he was executed

My Last Wellfare

In this poem we can see what he wanted to tell us.
JOSE RIZAL was a man who loved his country, the Philippines.

Education Gives Luster To Motherland

Wise education, vital breath
Inspires an enchanting virtue;
She puts the Country in the lofty seat
Of endless glory, of dazzling glow,
And just as the gentle aura's puff
Do brighten the perfumed flower's hue:
So education with a wise, guiding hand,
A benefactress, exalts the human band.

Man's placid repose and earthly life
To education he dedicates
Because of her, art and science are born
Man; and as from the high mount above
The pure rivulet flows, undulates,
So education beyond measure
Gives the Country tranquility secure.

Where wise education raises a throne
Sprightly youth are invigorated,
Who with firm stand error they subdue
And with noble ideas are exalted;
It breaks immortality's neck,
Contemptible crime before it is halted:
It humbles barbarous nations
And it makes of savages champions.
And like the spring that nourishes
The plants, the bushes of the meads,
She goes on spilling her placid wealth,
And with kind eagerness she constantly feeds,
The river banks through which she slips,
And to beautiful nature all she concedes,
So whoever procures education wise
Until the height of honor may rise.

From her lips the waters crystalline
Gush forth without end, of divine virtue,
And prudent doctrines of her faith
The forces weak of evil subdue,
That break apart like the whitish waves
That lash upon the motionless shoreline:
And to climb the heavenly ways the people
Do learn with her noble example.

In the wretched human beings' breast
The living flame of good she lights
The hands of criminal fierce she ties,
And fill the faithful hearts with delights,
Which seeks her secrets beneficent
And in the love for the good her breast she incites,
And it's th' education noble and pure
Of human life the balsam sure.

And like a rock that rises with pride
In the middle of the turbulent waves
When hurricane and fierce Notus roar
She disregards their fury and raves,
That weary of the horror great
So frightened calmly off they stave;
Such is one by wise education steered
He holds the Country's reins unconquered.
His achievements on sapphires are engraved;
The Country pays him a thousand honors;
For in the noble breasts of her sons
Virtue transplanted luxuriant flow'rs;
And in the love of good e'er disposed
Will see the lords and governors
The noble people with loyal venture
Christian education always procure.

And like the golden sun of the morn
Whose rays resplendent shedding gold,
And like fair aurora of gold and red
She overspreads her colors bold;
Such true education proudly gives
The pleasure of virtue to young and old
And she enlightens out Motherland dear
As she offers endless glow and luster.

See how we stand

First of all, that the tyranny of some is possible only through cowardice and negligence on the part of others.

Sencond, what makes one contemptible is lack of dignity and object fear of him who holds one in contempt.

Third,ignorance is serivtude, because as a man thinks, so he is; a man who does not think for himself and allowed himself to be guided by the thought of other is like the beast led by a halter.

Fourth, he who loves his independence must first aid his fellowman, because he who refues protection to others will find himself without it; the isolated rib of the buri palm is eadily broken, but not so the broom made or the ribs of the palm bound together.

Fifth, if the Filipina will not change her mode of being, let her rear no more chidren, let her merely give birth to them. She must cease to be the mistress of the home, otherwise she will unconsciously betray husband, child, native land and all.

Sixth, all men are born equal, naked, withour bonds. God did not create man to be a slave; nor did he endow him with intelligence to have him hoodwinked, or adorn him with a reason to have him deceived by others. it is not fatuous to refuse to worship one's equal, to cultivate one's intellect, and to make use of reason in all things. Fatuous is he who makes a god of him, who makes brutes of others, and who strives to submit to his whims all that is reasonable and just.

Seventh, consider well that kind of religion that they are teaching you. See whether it is the will of the God or according to the teaching of Christ that the poor be succored and those who suffer alleviated. Consider that they are preaching to you, the object of the sermon, what is behind the masses, novenas, rosaries, scapularies, images, miracle, candles, belts, etc.,etc.; which they daily keep before your minds; ears and eyes' jostling, shouting, and coaxing, investigate whence they came and whether they go and then compare that religion with the pure religion of Christ and see whether the pretended observance of the life of Christ does not remind of the fat mik cow or the fattened pig, which is encouraged to grow fat not through love of the animal, but not grossly mercenary motives.

Let us, therefore, reflect and consider our situation and see how we stand.

- JOSE RIZAL, To the young Women of Malolos, February 22, 1889

Pass the RH Bill now?

" ... the one should look at his own affairs through the prism of his own judgement and self-lovce, for God must have given them to us for some purpose...we would have to rely ultimately on our own private judgment, unless we fall into the absurdity of endlessly looking for prisms to judge others prisms by..."

"...Judgment... is like a lantern with which a father wishes to equip each one of his sons before a journey through rough and winding paths...Let each one strive to keep his lamp and improve it; let him not envy or depise the lamp of another,..."


-Jose Rizal's letter to Fr. Pastelles, September 1, 1892

The RH Bill Controversy

The RH Bill issue in the Philippines reflects the long-standing standing dispute between the church and the state.

The Reproductive Health Care Act of 2008 is an act that aims to provide families the choice of choosing artificial family planning. The Catholic Church states that the act of choosing artificial family planning is immoral and against the teachings of God.

What does Rizal have to say to this?

In Rizal's letters to Father Pastells, he states that: "Although I do not know at all what deeds of mine Your Reverence is referring to, nonetheless it does not seem to me so objectionable that one should look at his own affairs through the prism of his own judgment and self-love, for God must have given them to us for some purpose. For if we should do so through prisms not our own, this would be quite impractical, and since there would be as many prisms as individuals, we should not know which to choose..."

Rizal is saying that submitting to the judgment of others is not utilizing what God gave us when we were born: judgment and conscience. Indeed, it is quite impractical to depend solely on the judgment of others but connecting this to the RH Bill issue, are we really following our own discerning judgment?

The church has no right to decide for the Filipino people which family planning method is better (clearly, natural family planning is having no effect considering the still increasing population of the Philippines).

People should think for themselves and make a decision that truly came from discernment.

Below is a link to an "anti RH Bill video".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOmdTVAGGks

The Filipino Pride, Part II

Filipinos might not have the typical Jewish pride, probably because the Philippines is predominantly Catholic (or Christian, as the case maybe) and has a sizable Muslim minority. Irregardless of such religious implications, this writer believes that probably no contemporary Filipino discussed the Philippines’ national pride. Of course, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Jose Laurel, Manuel L. Quezon, or Apolinario Mabini, et al. had their individual philosophical views on ethics, revolution, reforms, education, and the like, thus, Gripaldo (2000) considered them as Filipino philosophers. But one might argue that all the former was in an era of revolutions for independence and statehood. Jose Rizal, among other revolutionaries, dreamed of a Philippine nation; while the Filipino martyrs of World War II defended the Philippine state.

What are you doing? Rizal

A solution for the endless religious conflict: the Multiplicity of Religions

"...A great respect for the good faith of the adversary, and for ideas which were necessarily poles apart due to the diversity of race, education, and age, led us almost always to the conclusion that religions, no matter what they are, should not make men enemies of on another, but friends, and good friends at that."

- the letter of Rizal to Fr. Pastells, November 11, 1892.





Now, it's time to think again.
Not insisting one's religion or regarding others with hostility,
we should respect the difference of various religions and their religious belief.


Religion, it is a way to unite people as one.