It wasn't called sin tax yet when they smoked a Rizal cigarillo or cigar

On the 20th of this month, President Benigno Aquino signed into law the so-called sin tax bill, which was previously a subject of heated debate in Congress.  While the goal of government is increased revenue, projected at some 20 billion pesos from those who smoke and drink alcoholic beverages, the law, on the other hand, may spell economic doom to tobacco farmers and employees of cigarette manufacturers.

What has this got to do with Rizal Day, this being the centenary of the interment of the remains of the national hero at the Luneta where his iconic monument stands? 

Package label of cigarillos with the portrait of Jose Rizal. Source:  Protocolo Manila 878, National Archives of the Philippines.

It's just that during the early years of the American regime, Rizal became a brand name of tobacco products. In the Navy guide to Cavite and Manila (1908), intended as a 'practical guide and beautiful souvenir' of American service men posted in Cavite,"Jose Rizal" brands were considered one of the few special cigar brands available from the market.

A popular cigar manufacturer at that time was the Germinal where important visitors in Manila were toured around and entertained by the company officials. 

Germinal employed 1,300 men, women and girls to produce a daily output of 100,000 cigars. Cigarettes were made by machines; cigars were hand made.

The company paid a daily internal revenue tax of P4,000 on cigarettes and cigars made for home consumption.  Import duties on cigars and cigarettes were very high at that time.

The Navy guide had a back-to-back advertisement spread for "Jose Rizal" cigars to welcome navy men arriving at the Cavite port, and a map of Manila rimmed with these slogans:  '"Jose Rizal" cigars are liked by eveybody;'  'the best that money can buy "Jose Rizal" cigars;' and '"Jose Rizal" cigars, no other cigar spells like it, smokes like it or is like it."

If Jose Rizal cigarettes/cigars are in the market today, they could be more of 'it's more fun in the Philippines' souvenir items considering that the sin tax bill would make them more expensive.  Lighting up Jose Rizal cigars though could very well fit in celebrating the birth of the first baby (a boy especially) in a new family.

References:

No recorded author. (1908).  Navy guide to Cavite and Manila.  A practical guide and beautiful souvenir.  Manila.   Retrieved from  http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;idno=sea189

MSS. Protocolo Manila 878. National Archives of the Philippines.

JP Rizal@150. Rizal Day in Yokohama, Japan with General Artemio Ricarte

General Artemio Ricarte and his wife with Filipino visitors in their restaurant in Yokohama, Japan.  [Picture from Ambeth Ocampo's Heroes.]

The young generation of "peace time", that's before the second world war, had two hero icons, the dead Jose Rizal and the living General Artemio Ricarte, who were both steadfast in their patriotic resolve, never succumbing to the enemy, the Spanish and the American colonial masters in succession.

Rather than capitulate just like what his contemporaries did, even after deportations to Guam and Hongkong and imprisonment in Bilibid, the General chose to live in exile in Yokohama, Japan, with the unfinished revolution in his mind and heart.

The rebellion could have been kept alive by the memory of JP Rizal and the stream of Filipino youth who passed by on their way to the United States to pay him their respect as their living hero.

Filipino associations in the United States during those years celebrated Rizal Day with much ceremony on the hero's death anniversary. So did General Artemio Ricarte and the Filipino residents of Tokyo and Yokohama. 

In 1924, the executive committee for the celebration of Rizal Day at the Public Hall at the Yokohama City Park was composed of the General, Professor Jose Ranes, Pedro Bartolome, Jose Fernandez,Ursulo Aguilar, Dr. Gaudioso Estaris and Juan Roldan.  

There could have been Rizal Days during the years the General was in residence there, and the commemorative programs could have been similar to this one held on 30 December 1924 --

• Hymn—“Rizal, Jose Rizal”—Chorus.

• Introductory Remarks in English—“Why This Night”—Mr. Pedro Bartolome.

• Address in Japanese-English—“Eiyu Suhai” (Venerations to the Heroes)—Prof. Jose Ranes.

• Violin Solo—“Nocturna”—Dr. Gaudioso Estaris.

• Ballad Song—“Roses and Memories”—Messrs. Jose and Reynaldo Fernandez.

• Speech in English—“The Philippines In Silhoutte”—Mr. Ursulo Aguilar.

• Declamation in Japanese—“Last Farewell” (Dr. Rizal)—Mr. Yoshio Takahashi.

• Address in English—“Youth Movement.” Mr. Soichi Saito (General Secretary, Japanese National Y.M.C.A.)—Introduction by Mr. Jose Gaerlan.

• Ballad Duet—“Mother”—Fernandez Hermanos.

• Address in English—“The Fatal Bullets of 1896”—Mr. Juan Roldan.

• Declamation in English—“Last Farewell”—Mr. Jose Fernandez—(Dr. Rizal.)

• Philippine Waltz—“Lulay”—Prof. Jose Ranes and Mr. Jose Fernandez.

• Address in Tagalog—“Kuro-Kuro”—General Artemio Ricarte.

• Orchestra Bell—“La Cinquantaine”—Gabriel-Marie—Mr. Yoshio Takahashi—(W. H. Reitz).

• FREE TRIBUTE (TRIBUNA LIBRE)—Address in Spanish—“El Viernes Santo de los Filipinos”—Prof. Jose Ranes—(Traducido al Japones por el Teniente Sr. K. Kidori.)

• Philippine National Anthem—Chorus.

“THE FIRING SQUADS OF 1896”

GOOD NIGHT.

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Like all the pre-war Rizal Day programs we've seen, there was always a recitation of "Last Farewell".  Here, the execution of the hero was recalled through the "fatal bullets" and "firing squads" numbers.  We'd like to think that the latter could not have been a music band but a reenactment of the execution in Bagumbayan.  

We may presume that in his kuro-kuro, the General harped on his thoughts of the unfinished revolution, which he would eventually put together in his book “Himagsikan nang manga Pilipino Laban sa Kastila” (The Revolution of Filipinos Against the Spaniards) published in Yokohama in 1927.

In his lonely exile, the General could have been paid surprise visits by young Filipinos on their way to America for work and/or studies.  He was still their idol!

Back then there were no airplanes yet stopping over in Nagoya or Narita.  There were ports of call for passenger ships going to the United States, Yokohama in Japan being one of them.

No wonder then that in 1926, for example, 100 Filipino passengers called on him as soon as their ship moored in Yokohama.

As reported, "the steamship President Lincoln had not been many hours at sea from Manila, when the nearly one hundred Filipinos aboard set in motion a plan to pay their respects to their great countryman and patriot, General Artemio Ricarte at his home in Yokohama, Japan.

"Upon arrival at the Japanese port, the Filipino passengers, accompanied and enlivened by the Lincoln's jazz band, marched to the General's home. Beholding such a large number of his countrymen, and taken as he was by complete surprise, General Ricarte was pleased beyond measure. So was Mrs. Ricarte. But they soon began to show evidence of the hospitality for which they are famous, making the boys feel as welcome as if they were in their own homes.

"The president of the occasion, Mr. Vicente Bellaflor, spoke in Tagalog, telling of recent happenings in the homeland, to which General Ricarte listened eagerly. Mr. E. Duarte spoke in Cebuano, Messrs. V. Salvador and R. Mabalot, in Ilocano, T. Malabog in Tagalog, and V. Feliciano, A. Casim, Y. Bondaco and T. Tigson in English. Jaime Inosanto acted as secretary.

"General Ricarte, warming to the occasion, made a very interesting response, reciting some of the most important chapters of his life, and making an impression upon those of his attentive audience that they will never forget.

"The concluding remarks by the visitors were made by Mr. Dalmacio D. Yupano, who told the General of the motives that had caused them to pay their respects, and assuring the self-exiled patriot that he stood higher than ever in the popular esteem of the Filipino people.

"Then the march into the dining room, and behold! Long, flower-bestrewn tables stood heaped with all kinds of good things to eat. With excellent music by the orchestra under the direction of Mr. Daniel Jimenez, the happy feast proceeded. As the members of the, visiting party later made their way back to the ship, to resume their trip to America, the thought that was uppernost in the mind of each was: "Long Live General Ricarte.""

Almost all of these young men could have come home and serve their country until the Pacific war erupted. An old man already, General Ricarte returned with the Japanese invasion forces, died and got buried in an unknown grave while being pursued by the American liberation forces "without seeing the dawn brighten over [his] land", in the words of JP Rizal.





References:

• Rizal Day in Japan. (1925, March1).  The Philippine Republic. 2(3):16. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acc6198.1924.001

• 100 Filipinos call on General Ricarte. (1926,September). The Philippine Republic. 3(8):17.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acc6198.1926.008

• General Ricarte picture from the Heroes photofile of Ambeth Ocampo at  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/media/set/?set=a.327816682634.149099.47261762634

Rizal Day USA during the campaign period for Philippine independence

Today, 30th of December 2010, promptly at 7 o'clock this morning, His Excellency Benigno Simeon Cojuanco Aquino III, presided over the Rizal Day ceremonies at Luneta Park to mark the 114th death anniversary of national hero, Dr Jose Rizal.  As tradition dictates, he hoisted the giant Philippine flag with the assistance of top civilian and military authorities, laid a wreath of flowers at the foot of the hero's monument, and delivered a memorial message to the Filipino people. 

It's not a holiday today however. PNoy moved it earlier to last Monday, 27th December, and we doubt if the citizenry even considered giving a pause for Rizalian reflection that day before they resumed their planned activities for the extended Christmas weekend.

Except for the Luneta rites, the only other Rizal Day celebration we know of is the city fiesta of Olongapo City.  It's always been called 'Rizal Day' although we doubt if there is anything commemorative of the hero's sacrificial death amidst the noise and fun in the auditorium and around the festive food tables of the city households. 

Rizal Day on December 30 was an eventful day among Filipinos here and abroad before the Americans restored our independence on the 4th of July in 1946.  Records show that they celebrated in grand fashion with parades, dinners and other commemorative programs. 

It could be that Rizal Day morphed into the 4th of July, later replaced by the 12th of June, independence day celebrations.  In the pre-World War II days (peacetime to the old generation), Filipinos had no big historical event to commemorate (did we win the war against the Spaniards? the Americans?) yet.  As residents of an American territory, they celebrated the holidays of their colonizers.

It was a lingering veneration of Jose Rizal, and a vintage decree issued by Emilio Aguinaldo of the short-lived Philippine Republic on 20th December 1898 that kept Filipinos observed Rizal Day with pomp and ceremony here and abroad during the first four decades of the 1900s.

The Philippine Republic, a magazine that was set up by Americans to help in the Philippine independence campaign, left us records of 'how Rizal Day was celebrated in the United States'.  From issues of 1925 to 1928, we read accounts of how Filipinos in various cities in the United States, in Japan, and even Argentina kept the memory of Jose Rizal alive.

Our survey of the Rizal Day programs during those years show the following common elements --

• Recitation of "Mi Ultimo Adios"/"My Last Farewell", sometimes with a piano accompaniment;
• Musical entertainment featuring Filipino bands, orchestras, jazz groups, string quartets;
• Musical numbers from Filipino and guest American singers and instrumentalists (pianists, violinists, guitarists, etc) rendering classical and patriotic songs and compostions;
• Orations and speeches from guest speakers (pro-Independence Americans, visiting dignitaries from the Philippines, notable members of the sponsoring Filipino association);
• Recitation of Rizaliana (biography, poems and excerpts from his other literary works);
• Formal attire--the barong has not come of age yet; 
• Singing of two national anthems:  Star Spangled Banner and the Philippine National Anthem.

In some cities, there were Rizal Day Queens.  We also found a playlet of four scenes, the last a re-enactment of the execution in Bagumbayan, a table d'hote of dishes with Philippine names. 

There was a group of Filipino scholars there who called themselves The Philippines Collegians, probably because they were from the University of the Philippines doing graduate work in Harvard U.  Enrique Virata, Gregorio Zara, Juan Nakpil, and their colleagues--big names later in the Philippines--organized very formal Rizal Day programs.

Here are a few reminders of how Filipinos in America remembered national hero when they were there as pensionados or self-supporting students in the universities and colleges, World War 1 veterans who opted to stay and raise families there, adventurous Pinoys who came to work in the plantations of Hawaii and California and in the canneries in Alaska, and the first generation of Fil-Ams--US-born or innocent children yet when their parents migrated there. 

• Brooklyn, New York City, 1924.

The Filipino masons of "Gran Oriente Filipino" led the annual Rizal Day celebrations in Brooklyn, New York City. In this 1924 event, violin prodigy Ernesto Vallejo was 14 years old.

• Boston, Massachussetts, 1924.

In the Boston area, the Filipino World War 1 veterans were the leaders in the celebration of Rizal Day.

•  Los Angeles, California, 1924.

The Filipino Association of Southern California called this a Rizal Day meeting, and from the program, it looked like it was a music concert.

•  Washington DC, 1925.

In this Washington DC Rizal Day, Mrs Claro M Recto, soprano, a music student in Washington at that time rendered a vocal solo.

• Detroit, Michigan, 1925.

What's remarkable in this celebration is the table d'hote consisting of, among others, Malolos Salad with Philippine Islands Dressing,  Biak-na-Bato Ice Cream, Balintawak Cakes and Bagumbayan Coffee.  The Philippine Revolution on the table, indeed!

• San Diego, California, 1925.

This program tells us that the Filipinos in the United States Navy at that time were not only cooks and stewards but also musicians. 

•   Salinas, California, 1925.

This 1925 Rizal event was a three-day celebration.  Other cities also had Rizal Day Queens.

•  Seattle, Washington, 1925.

The chairman of the executive board of the Filipino Council of Seattle in 1925, and the toastmaster for that year's Rizal Day celebration was Victorio C. Edades, who was working his way through fine arts schooling in the city.  Victorio Edades would become a National Artist of the Philippines.

•  Crane College, Chicago, Illinois, 1926.

Every year the Crane College Filipino Club was among several Chicago-based associations that organized Rizal Day activities.  The picture tells us that Philippine music was very much part of the commemorative program.

Sources of pictures and information:

•  The Philippine Republic ( 1925-1927 issues).  Retrieved from the University of Michigan Digital Library Collection, The United States and its Territories, 1870-1925: Age of Imperialism at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/

How to celebrate Rizal Day according to teachers of 1909

Today is the 113th death anniversary of the national hero Jose Rizal.  Some towns or cities like Olongapo celebrate Rizal Day as a fiesta.  We don't know if the fiesta-goers set aside a minute of their time to relate Rizal to themselves and their country today before going on to wine, dine and dance with their favorite dance instructor/instructress in the town/city auditorium.

On the 13th death anniversary in December 1909, and that's exactly one hundred years ago, The Filipino Teacher, the tri-lingual monthly journal of the Philippine Teachers' Association, was already agitating for a more meaningful commemoration of the hero's life and martyrdom.  That is a valid issue until today even if Rizal Day is moved to June 16, his birthdate, currently a legislative agendum, or whether it remains ipit between Christmas and New Year on December 30.

Let's listen to what the Filipino teacher a century ago had to say on celebrating Rizal Day -- 

RIZAL DAY

"May the joy of this Christmas reach all far and near,
"May the message of Christmas to all hearts be clear;
"May it sooth every sorrow and dry every tear,
"May it bind closer to us each soul that is dear, And the spirit of Christmas last all through the year"

"As one reads the words that head these lines there appears in his mind the calm, noble figure of a man whose life has been one of complete self-forgetfulness and a perfect example of what a man's true love for his country should be. As one ponders at the story of this man's life, he can not but have an unconscious admiration for genius and express doubt at the righteousness of human's justice.

"To the Filipinos, that first Rizal day thirteen years ago, was the culmination of the unbroken chain of unhappy facts and events in their history which justified them in the eyes of the world in their wish of separating themselves from Spain, their mother country. The execution which took place on that day was the last of the long series of executions undertaken by those in power in their vain hope of wiping out of existence any educated Filpino who dared raise his voice against their arbitrary rule. The circumstances culminating up to the tragic death of the man in whose honor this day has been named, are well known to all. The place he held in the estimation of his countrymen and the friendship that connected him with influential men abroad are no secrets to us. His return to Manila from Hongkong in 1892; his being arrested on the charge of anti-religious and anti-patriotic campaigns of education; his four years exile to Dapitan; his departure from the Philippines to join the Spanish forces in Cuba in the capacity of army surgeon; his recall while en route to be tried for "sedition and rebellion," and lastly his execution on that memorable field where hundreds of his countrymen faced death in the cause of Right, are topics too well-known as to necessitate further mention here.

"We believe, however, that a few remarks on the yearly observance of RIZAL DAY would not be out of place.

"In what manner can RIZAL DAY be fittingly observed? Let there be public parades, let there be literary entertainments but let not the observance of the day end here. Public parades and literary entertainments are but outward manifestations of tribute to the memory of a man, and while they are by no means objectionable, still they do not make the observance of the day complete. Rizal, whom we just love to call our martyred hero, lived and died for the sake of his country. Can we on every anniversary of his death honor him better than to faithfully follow his wise teachings? Can we who love our country and work for its advancement have better guides than the worthy examples set by Rizal, Mabini, Del Pilar and others?

"Let us then celebrate RIZAL DAY by following the wise teachings of the man in whose memory we dedicate the day. Let his name be in every Filipino Home. Let mothers repeat to their children Rizal's life; let the school teacher make his pupils see the excellent traits in Rizal's character while a boy, which enabled him later to become the learned man that he was; let every newspaper contrast Rizal's attitude towards his country and some of the present day patriots whose personal ambitions all tend to the glorification of the selfish "I". Thus and only thus can RIZAL DAY yearly celebrations be properly and fittingly held."

-- and this holds true every year, doesn't it?
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Note:  The illustration was taken from The Philippine Republic. (1927, December 15). 4:11(4). Washington DC.

Rizal Day a century ago

Every Filipino and netizens of the world know that Efren Penaflorida of the kariton klasrooms is the CNN Hero of the Year. He's 28, and with 10,000 other youngsters, he's reaching out to children who are shackled away by poverty from the regular schools. They teach them not only the 'Rs--reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic--but also basic hygiene and moral values, deeper than the usual GMRC (good manners & right conduct) of yore.

Efren brings the classroom to the children's prisons--the streets, tambayans and informal settlements--with the basic tools to dream, believe, survive (to borrow the television StarStruck talent search motto) and make a better life for themselves.

Jose Rizal at 31 was not yet hero but the idolo ng masa of the underground revolutionary movement. He anteceded Efren in reverse. In his Dapitan exile, July 1892 to July 1896, he, a prisoner, was the volunteer teacher of select schoolboys from the island's prominent families. He did not have a kariton klasroom but he built them an octagonal house cum school where he taught them "reading, writing, languages (Spanish and English), geography, history, mathematics (arithmetic and geometry), industrial work, nature study, morals and gymnastics" (Epistolario Rizalino V:II) without paying any tuition at all.

Rizal's Dapitan boys were already English literate when the Americans set up the public school system. The first curriculum was structured that boys and girls could qualify to teach when they finish grade 4. We can imagine the boys having an easier time at the new school because they only had to recall Rizal's English lessons.

We wonder how many of them joined the corps of very young Filipino teachers during the first two decades of the American regime. These were the educators who organized the The Philippine Teachers' Association sometime in 1901, and put out their printed voice in Spanish, Tagalog and English--The Filipino Teacher--six years later in 1907.

At that time, Rizal was still fresh in their memories, and for the much younger ones, he was the inspiration derived from stories about his life and death from their parents. Thus, Rizal Day was religiously observed as a national event in towns and cities with teachers actively participating in the commemorative programs. Teacher-correspondents wrote about the celebrations in The Filipino Teacher in English, a second language they were learning fast to effectively teach the new curriculum to an increasing enrollment of boys and girls in schools being built by the Bureau of Instruction all over the Philippine Islands.

"The celebration of the 12th anniversary of Dr. Rizal's death eclipsed the celebrations of former years," reported a Manila teacher about Rizal Day 1908. "The parade which took place in the morning was witnessed by an immensed crowd of people who, inspite of the sun which at that time shone without pity, turned out to render their most fervent tribute to the memory of him who twelve years ago gave up his life for his country. The parade stopped at the Luneta where a grand-stand was erected not far from the place where Rizal's execution took place." Dignitaries gave patriotic speeches after the parade, and in the evening, "a grand entertainment was given in the Opera House."

The following year, Rizal Day again started with a civic parade in the morning that lasted three hours "in which were represented practically all the institutions of the city--commercial, educational and bureaucratic." The 'artistic floats' came from these institutions as well as from the 'Chinese colony' and labor organizations. Distinguised citizens paid tribute to the hero through speeches at a grandstand erected at the Luneta, and "the celebration of the day was gloriously ended by a grand literary entertainment held in the Manila Grand Opera House."
In that Rizal Day a century ago, there were school contests in different subject areas like English, Arithmetic, Hygiene and Domestic Services, etc. In Drawing, the first prize went to Mr Fernando Amorsolo of the School of Fine Arts. Amorsolo became a National Artist.
Civic parades, speeches and orations, literary entertainments even athletics were also held in the towns "in commemoration of the Patriot's immortal deeds." In Iba, Zambales, for example, the town's young men and women also performed "a melodrama on the boyhood and manhood of Rizal" during the 12th anniversary of his death.
The only Rizal Day that is still alive today, as far as we know, is that of Olongapo City. It's fiesta time there every December 30 but we are not too sure if the celebration has something to do anymore with Dr. Jose Rizal.

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Note: Thirty five issues of The Filipino Teacher, volumes 1 to 4, are found in the digital library collection The United States and its Territories 1870-1925: the Age of Imperialism of the Univeristy of Michigan Ann Arbor.
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