I Came and I Felt “Bitin”

A week before the lecture, I decided adamantly that I wouldn’t attend his lecture because I need to save money, as if I was saving money this past week. On the other hand, I really enjoyed Dr. Ambeth Ocampo’s previous lectures that I couldn’t just let this opportunity to slip away, besides the two meetings I had on Saturday were scheduled on morning and evening, respectively. It meant I had enough time to attend the lecture or wander around anywhere before my meeting in the evening. And so I came.

Like his previous lectures, the final installment of History Comes Alive 2011 titled “Doble Kara: Rizal in Arts and Monuments” was well well-attended despite the scheduled football game between Azkals and LA Galaxy Team. Since I made no reservation, I arrived early, paid the ticket and was asked to choose which among the four Looking Back series I wanted as a souvenir. I hesitated a bit before I chose the Looking Back 1. I was a bit disappointed because I already have the 4 Looking Backs and was looking forward to the fifth volume.


Similar to his laid-back style of writing, he was no different when delivering lectures. I could sometimes conjure an image of him talking while reading his column in Philippine Daily Inquirer.  The only difference between writing and speaking is one could relish hearing him speak and deliver those well-applauded punch lines. 

The lecture started when he showed a slide of photos depicting Rizal in various monuments in Philippines and abroad. Some of Rizal’s monuments are outright ugly because of “lack in creativity or knowledge” while others are impeccably beautiful.  His dazzling brilliancy in making “useless information” useful is amazing. Some historians treated “useless information” irrelevant but Dr. Ambeth Ocampo begged to differ.  Like they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” and Dr. Ambeth definitely made treasure out of these “useless information”.

What are these “useless information”? I tried to remember everything and sadly, I failed. I could only give glimpses on what were shared during his lecture.

• Rizal, on his Noli Me Tangere draft, dedicated his work to GOMBURZA and left the date of death blank, but when his work was published, it contained the date of death and age of GOMBURZA which was found later to be wronged. Lesson learned: Never believed anything even if that person is a hero because first and foremost, he is human.
• The gold foot print markings installed on Intramuros grounds symbolizes Rizal’s final walk. Professor Ambeth, curious as always, inquired why the spaces between foot prints were too small. The worker answered his [Rizal] feet were bound. According to Dr. Ambeth, Rizal’s hands were bound not his feet. Another incident involving the same gold foot prints when Dr. Ambeth asked the same question. The contractor replied “kung mamatay ka, magmamadali ka pa ba?” and Dr. Ambeth surrendered the case. 
• A fake photograph of Rizal’s final hours can be recognized if you do not recognize a dog in the picture.
• One of Rizal’s sisters wiped 12 handkerchiefs on Rizal’s puddle of blood to serve as reminder of that sad day. As of writing, Dr. Ambeth Ocampo has found one but lost immediately when, during his visit in one of Rizal’s relatives, the “katulong” thought the bloodied handkerchief as an ordinary dirty hanky and washed it. But there’s still hope, according to him, there are still 11 remaining handkerchiefs hidden in someone’s baul waiting to be uncovered.
• One of the Paco Park’s administrators tried to build a women’s comfort room on top of GOMBURZA’s graves. Good thing, Dr. Ambeth Ocampo saw it, informed Mayor Alfredo Lim and the comfort room was immediately removed in the afternoon.
• Another Gomburza anecdote involved a Filipino priest. During the death anniversary of the Gomburza Martyrs, Dr. Ambeth asked one Filipino priest to bless the tomb. The priest agreed but never appeared on the day of the blessing. Interestingly, it was a Spanish Priest who gave blessing to the tomb.
• He discussed that garrote gives a quick painless death and not the slow agonizing pain described by some authors. The garrote does not suffocate his/her victim but snaps his/her neck for a sudden death. After giving his audience a gruesome description of garrote, Dr. Ambeth showed funny pictures of Filipinos posing with the garrote.  Take note, those picture are not taken recently but old photos. Now, I understand where we get this penchant for picture taking.
• Most of our 19^th century heroes were still child or unborn during the Terror of 1872 and yet most of them knew who they want to be and aware of their surrounding even before they reached the age of 40. I was a little embarrassed when he mentioned it because I had been ranting about my work, my life and yet at the age of 24, what have I contributed to my country besides tax and as a law-abiding citizen.

There are still other “useless information” mentioned during the lecture but I would no longer share it. You have to attend Dr. Ocampo’s lecture. But one thing I would definitely share is Dr. Ocampo’s final words.

“Your image of Rizal depends on the books you read, the teachers you had, and the monuments you saw. There will be more monuments as we have Rizals, and maybe in the multitude of Rizals that we have, maybe one day when we read him, we will find the real Rizal”

After he said his final words, I couldn’t believe the storytelling was ending. I looked at my watch and noticed the time was around 04:00 pm when his previous lectures ended around 05:00 pm. I was surprised that it only took more than an hour because I still didn’t want the lecture to end and so I felt “bitin”. I could still enjoy reading his column on Philippine Daily Inquirer while waiting for the 2012 History Comes Alive.

For more details about the lecture Doble Kara: Rizal in Monument, please visit this article from Manila Bulletin. The article has more detailed information about the lecture than what I shared in my review. Next time, I'll try to bring a pen and notebook so I don't have to rely on memory alone.