A Pen versus A Bolo

If you are planning to bring your child to go for a leisure walk in Luneta Park today, you may take him first to the regal monument of our great national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, and tell him, “Son, this is a very brave man who sacrificed his own life for a good cause. He wrote the revolutionary novels – El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) and Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) – that opened up the minds of the Filipino people about the cruel practices of the colonist Spaniards. He was shot by a firing squad and he died as a patriot of our nation on December 30, 1896.”

Probably your child would be influenced to think that the best weapon to be a hero is a mighty pen.

Afterward, if you happen to pass across Manila City Hall then he points the shrine of Gat. Andres Bonifacio and asks, “Mom, is he also a great hero?”

Naturally you would also like to account to him the legacy of Bonifacio, the Father of Philippine Revolution. You'd emphasize that Bonifacio was a hero with an uncompromising stance in leading his countrymen to the path of freedom. And as the supremo of Kataastaasan Kagalanggalangan Katipunan (KKK), he led his men in performing a blood compact by using their blood to sign their names as new warriors for the Filipinos. Eventually, Bonifacio and his brothers were shot and buried in a shallow grave marked only by a few twigs and leaves.

Probably (again) your son would wonder who did better – Rizal or Bonifacio? A pen or a bolo?

Hitherto, the debate about Rizal versus Bonifacio has remained unabated. Mercilessly pitting the qualities of one against the other: the ilustrado class versus the proletariat, the sophisticated European education versus the self-schooled one, the privileged situation of one versus the plebeian beginnings of the other, Rizal's mastery of Spanish versus Bonifacio's Tagalog background, and the list goes on and on.

For me, both Rizal and Bonifacio bequeathed our race the imperative freedom that we are so entitled to. I strongly believe that these two great heroes should be honored equally, regardless if one used a pen or the other used a bolo.