BUKIDNON – Opposition senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero has released a statement in time for Dr. Jose Rizal’s birthday. The statement reads:

“ON JOSE RIZAL: THE LESSONS OF A LIFE WELL-LIVED

Today we commemorate the 148th birthday of our National Hero, Jose Rizal. Born in 1861, he would live to celebrate only 35 birthdays, a short but meaningful life that left a lasting imprint on our nation’s history.

His death by firing squad in 1896 sparked a revolution and emboldened a generation of young men and women to take up arms and defeat a long-time colonial oppressor.

Rizal’s enduring legacy is not that he penned timeless aphorisms like “the youth is the fair hope of our motherland;” it is the fact that in the face of persecution and certain death, he lived out his words and inspired the birthing of a nation.

Today we are no longer the servants of any one nation, but many of our countrymen continue to yearn for freedom––freedom from a corrupt and immoral government, freedom from poverty, freedom from hunger.

Let the lessons of Rizal’s life and heroic example spur us––especially the youth–– to take action to change the fortunes of this long-suffering Republic.

My only lament is that this day is not given the importance it deserves by our national officials.”

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