Award-winning Fil-British author pays tribute to Jose Rizal

An award-winning Filipina-British author Candy Gourlay paid tribute to Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal during activities marking his 150th birth anniversary in the United Kingdom. Gourlay delivered a talk before an international audience at London's Chalk Farm Library on "Jose Rizal: Philippine Hero, Picture Book Writer" in June, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. "Rizal's simple tale - of how a lumbering turtle outwits a far stronger and more agile animal - resonates with outrage against the abuses of the Spanish colonial regime," Gourlay said. Gourlay was referring to Rizal's fable "The Monkey and the Turtle," which was published in a London magazine in the 1880s. Commemorative events On June 19, Rizal's actual birthday, commemorative events were held across London. One of the events was a special lecture at the British Museum by Dr. Brian Durrans, the museum's former senior curator. Durrans discussed the various facets of Dr. Rizal's reputation and why these remain important to Filipinos 150 years later, the DFA said. "It seems to me understandable and indeed commendable that people are reluctant to let their national hero end up as 'dust upon the carpet (of your earth),'" Durrans concluded, referring Dr. Rizal's valedictory poem Mi Ultimo Adios. Signature of readers After the lecture, the Museum unveiled its Signature of Readers for the year 1887, which Rizal had signed to gain access to the Round Reading Room and research and annotate Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de la Islas Filipinas. The London Chapter of the Knights of Rizal and the Embassy then held a heritage walk and laid a floral offering at 37 Chalcot Crescent in Primrose Hill, the London address where Dr. Rizal lodged in 1888. A blue plaque commemorating the place where significant historical figures lived and worked was erected at the address by the Greater London Council in 1983 in honor of Rizal. "On this special day, the greatest tribute we can pay to the man is to live to his expectations, fulfill his dreams, aspire towards his ideals, and be part of genuine transformation in Philippine society," Chargé d'Affaires Reynaldo Catapang said. - VVP, GMA News