HISTORY

Senate bill 438 known as Rizal Bill which was first authored by Senator Claro M. Recto –
requiring the inclusion in the curricula of all private and public schools, colleges and
universities the life, works and writings of Jose Rizal particularly his novels Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo – is considered as one of the most controversial bills in the
Philippines. Normally, before the bill was approved and implemented in all schools and
was signed into a law known as Republic Act 1425, it had been brought to the Upper
and Lower House of the Congress for deliberations. But what made it controversial is
that the bill was not just fiercely opposed by people from Legislative Arm but also by the
Catholic Church due to the inclusion of compulsory reading of Rizal’s novels in which
according to them, catholic dogmas are humiliated.

Senator Recto brought the bill to the Senate and Senator Jose B. Laurel Sr. who was then
the Chairman of the Committee on Education sponsored the bill that consequently led to
exchange of arguments from the Congress. The bill was headedly opposed by three
senators namely Senator Francisco Rodrigo who was a former Catholic Action President,
Senator Mariano Cuenco and Senator Decoroso Rosales who was the brother of Julio
Rosales, an archbishop. Other oppositors were from Lower House namely Congressmen
Ramon Durano, Marciano Lim, Jose Nuguid, Manuel Soza, Godofredo Ramos, Miguel
Cuenco, Lucas Paredes, Congressmen Carmen Consing and Tecia San Andres Ziga. The
Catholic Church was indirectly included in the debates and played a major role for the
intervention of signing of the bill into a law. Allied with the church in battle against Rizal
Bill were the Holy Name Society of the Philippines, Catholic Action of the Philippines,
Legion of Mary, Knights of Columbus and Daughters of Isabela.

Oppositions argued that the bill would go against freedom of conscience and religion,
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) submitted a pastoral letter to
which according, Rizal violated Canon Law 1399 which forbids or bans books that attack
or ridicule the catholic doctrine and practices. Oppositors argued that among the 333
pages of Noli Me Tangere, only 25 passages are nationalistic while 120 passages are
anti-catholic. While upon scrutiny of thetwo novels by some members of catholic
hierarchal.Furthermore, oppositors pointed out that Rizal admitted that he did not only
attack the friars who acted deceptively on the Filipinos but also the catholic faith itself.
They suggested a reading material for students as to what they called Rizalian
Anthology, a collection of Rizal’s literary works that contain the patriotic philosophy
excluding the two novels.

Of course, Recto and Laurel defended the bill and argued that the only objective of the
bill is to keep the memory of the national hero alive in every Filipino’s mind, to emanate
Rizal as he peacefully fought for freedom, and not to go against religion. Senators
LorensoTanada, Quintin Paredes and DomocaoAlonto of Mindanao also defended Rizal
Bill which was also favored by Representatives from the House namely Congressmen
Jacobo Gonzales, Emilio Cortez, Mario Bengson, Joaquin Roxas, LancapLagumbay and
Pedro Lopez. Other supporters of the bill were Mayor Arsenio Lacson call anti-rizal bill
“bigoted and intolerant” and walked out of a mass when the priest read a pastoral letter
from the Archbishop denouncing the Rizal Bill aqnd General Emilio Aguinaldo with
groups like the Knights of Rizal, Women Writers of the Verrnacular, Philippine Veterans
Legion, Colleger Editors’ Guild and Philippine School Teachers’ Association.

Excitement and intense scnenes were eventually arisen in settling the Rizal Bill. One of
which was the debate of Cebu Representative Ramon Durano and Pampanga
Representative Emilio Cortes that ended with a fistfight in Congress. Bacolod City
Bishop Manuel Yap threatened to campaign against pro-rizal bill legislators nad to punish
them in future elections. Catholic Schools Representatives threatened to close down
their schools if the Rizal Bill was passed. Recto told them that if they did, the State could
nationalize the catholic schools. When there was a proposal to use the expurgated
novels as textbooks and put the original copies under lock and key in the school libraries,
Recto rejected this amendment and expressed:

“The people who would eliminate the books of Rizal from the schools…would bot out
from our minds the memory of the national hero…this is not a fight against Recto but a
fight against Rizal…now that Rizal is dead and they can no longer attempt at his life, they
are attempting to blot out his memory.”

Due to apparently never-ending debate on the Rizal Bill, approved amendments were
formulated through ideas of three senators. Senator Laurel’ created an amendment to the
original bill in which, other that Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, works written by
Rizal and works written by others about Rizal would be included and reading of the
unexpurgated revision of the two novels would no longer be compulsory to elementary
and secondary levels but would be strictly observed to college level. Senator Lim
suggested the exemption to those students who feel that reading Rizal’s novels would
negatively affect his or her faith. Senator Primicias created an additional amendment
that promulgates the rules and regulations in getting an exemption only from reading the
two novels through written statement or affidavit and not from taking the Rizal Course.
According to historian Ambeth Ocampo, no student has ever availed of this exemption.
After the revised amendments, the bill was finally passed on May 17, 1956 and was
signed into law as Republic Act 1425 by President Ramon Magsaysay on June 12 of the
same year.
CONTROVERSY OF THE PASSING RA 1425
The author of RA 1425
- Senate bill 438 known as Rizal Bill which was first authored by Senator Claro M.
Recto.
- requiring the inclusion in the curricula of all private and public schools, colleges
and universities the life, works and writings of Jose Rizal particularly his novels
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo – is considered as one of the most
controversial bills in the Philippines. Normally, before the bill was approved and
implemented in all schools and was signed into a law known as Republic Act 1425,
it had been brought to the Upper and Lower House of the Congress for
deliberations.
WHAT MADE IT CONTROVERSIAL
- The bill was not just fiercely opposed by people from Legislative Arm but also by
the Catholic Church due to the inclusion of compulsory reading of Rizal’s novels in
which according to them, catholic dogmas are humiliated.

- The bill was headedly opposed by three senators namely Senator Francisco
Rodrigo who was a former Catholic Action President, Senator Mariano Cuenco
and Senator Decoroso Rosales who was the brother of Julio Rosales, an
archbishop. Other oppositors were from Lower House namely Congressmen
Ramon Durano, Marciano Lim, Jose Nuguid, Manuel Soza, Godofredo Ramos,
Miguel Cuenco, Lucas Paredes, Congressmen Carmen Consing and Tecia San
Andres Ziga. The Catholic Church was indirectly included in the debates and
played a major role for the intervention of signing of the bill into a law. Allied with
the church in battle against Rizal Bill were the Holy Name Society of the
Philippines, Catholic Action of the Philippines, Legion of Mary, Knights of
Columbus and Daughters of Isabela.
- The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) submitted a pastoral
letter to which according, Rizal violated Canon Law 1399 which forbids or bans
books that attack or ridicule the catholic doctrine and practices.
- 333 pages of Noli Me Tangere, only 25 passages are nationalistic while 120
passages are anti-catholic. While upon scrutiny of the two novels by some
members of catholic hierarchical, 170 passages in Noli Me Tangere and 50 in El
Filibusterismo are against catholic faith.

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- Keep the memory of the national hero alive in every Filipino’s mind, to
emanate Rizal as he peacefully fought for freedom, and not to go against
religion.
WHEN IT WAS APPROVED AND WHO SIGNED IT
- The bill was finally passed on May 17, 1956 and was signed into law as Republic Act
1425 by President Ramon Magsaysay on June 12 of the same year.