THE TWO RECENT typhoons surely didn’t dampen the spirit of the Rizalistas, Dr. Jose Rizal’s fans and followers, avid, fanciful or just plain curious, to pay him homage during celebrations of the one hundred fiftieth birth year of our and their national hero.
In many venues of events of Rizal’s birthday last June, they still rode and trooped to Fort Santiago, walked meters and blocks, braved the winds, rains and floods to the historic site just to see what his descendants had in store for his fellowmen who year after year were constantly in search of new things they could discover and learn from him not only as a medical doctor, anthropologist, artist or polymath.
Even a foreigner, who has a penchant for history and literature, was drawn attention in what Philippine past was all about, like Italian painter and filmmaker Marco Russo di Chiara, who didn’t know Rizal from Adam, became interested in him.
“Maybe I missed him in my world history class but I was familiar with Philippine revolutions, one against Spaniards, the next against Americans and the last two, I believe, were against a dictator and a despot, respectively, right?” declared di Chiara, a 28-year old artist who directs the famous “Un Pusto al Sol” for Italy’s Rai TV.
IMPRESSIVE SHRINE
The Rizal Shrine was like a whole vast of knowledge for di Chiara, who was in town to assist a Fil-Briton filmmaker Jowee Morel in a big indie film on Filipino migration to London starring Pilar Pilapil, every nook and cranny of the repository was a learning experience for him from the vests worn by Rizal to the original manuscripts of “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibuterismo.”
“This is impressive,” said di Chiara of the Rizal collection, the major ones, many of the hero’s memorabilia displayed in other museums, art galleries and repositories in the country and around the world as well.
“Ultimo Adios,” Rizal’s farewell piece in poetry, inscribed on the walls, impacted so much on the tourist, its Spanish language stroke him since he has Latin and Hispanic courses, including a degree in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature in college up in Italy.
“You have a very rich culture and colorful personalities in history,” di Chiara observed.
The Rizal Shrine was like a whole vast of knowledge for di Chiara… every nook and cranny of the repository was a learning experience for him from the vests worn by Rizal to the original manuscripts of “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibuterismo”.
INTRAMUROS: VERY EUROPEAN
He understood, therefore, the meaning of colonization of a Third World country as Philippines. “I could imagine a lot of your traditions and cultures were destroyed by the Spaniards,” he discerned.
Hence, the prevailing atmosphere of Fort Santiago isn’t alien to di Chiara including the bricks, the many greens lined-up along the lanes, the cobblestones on the pathways, the lampposts etc. “This is very European,” he noted.
What caught his fancy, though, were the rounded, bulb-lighted lanterns made of sea shells dangling on the trees.
“Those are very European, too. It’s like preserving the ancient beliefs. But in London where I stay now, it’s very different. It prefers colorful lights. London makes it different now,” di Chiara compared.
SOOTHING LOCAL MUSIC
A musical show on Rizal, meanwhile, also impressed the Italian post modern man which showed the unique national past especially the melodious, lyrical and inspirational songs rendered by pop singer Cris Villonco who dished out the emotional contemporary romance song, “Hanggang” and a neo-realist ditty the title of which had escaped us and the Ateneo Chamber Singers in mostly original Filipino compositions on love of Rizal and country.
“Your music soothes, its’ very caressing especially about love,” he noticed when we interpreted the Tagalog words to English.
Firecrackers lighted up the starless sky and Filipino as well as some adapted foreign music made everyone, including the visitor, stands proud and euphoric of a party given a hero everybody even the world looks up to.
Like important guests of the event former Miss Universe Margie Moran-Floreindo, filmmaker Jim Libiran, writers Luis Gatmaitan and Dino Manrique and other Rizal believers, fans, worshippers and kin not excluding historians, artists and culturati, di Chiara soaked his feet with mud and rainwater but unmindful of them unless they missed the gig organized by My Rizal 150, a group of friends and relatives of Rizal’s clan.
When the birthday cake iced with a giant “Noli Me Tangere” book was served in the middle of the stage while the Ateneo choral group sang “Happy Birthday,” kid descendants of Rizal went up the platform, sang, blew the candles and probably wished privately for the happy soul of their dearly beloved Lolo Jose.
PROMOTING THE PHILIPPINES
Di Chiara felt in love, later, with a short play on Rizal’s life performed by good actors and actresses directed in absentia by famous and intellectual playwright and drama professor Anton Juan who was abroad at the time for cultural exchange.
Notwithstanding his unfamiliarity with the vernacular dialogues interspersed with English lines, he was rooting for the whole cast especially the one who portrayed Teodora Alonso, Rizal’s mom and HeroesSquare Intramuros founder, convenor and producer Andoni Albert.
“When I go back to London and Italy, in my hometown Palermo, I will tell everybody how nice Philippine history and culture are,” assured di Chiara.