Rizal Day - History

History

Rizal Day was first instituted with a decree from President Emilio Aguinaldo dated December 30, 1898 as a national day of mourning for Rizal and all victims of the Spanish government during their rule in the Philippines. Daet, Camarines Norte was the first town to follow the decree, building a monument designed by Lt. Col. Antonio Sanz, led by Sanz and Lt. Col. Ildefonso Alegre, and financed by the townfolk at Camarines Norte and the rest of the Bicol Region. Finished on February 1899, the three-tiered stone pylon inscribing Rizal's novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, and Morga, for Antonio de Morga, author of Sucesos de las islas Filipinas, a book about the early days of the Spanish colonization in the Philippines.

With the victory of the Americans against the Spaniards in the Spanish-American War, the Americans took control of the Philippines. To make it appear that they were more pro-Filipino than the Spaniards, the American governor-general William Howard Taft in 1901 named Rizal as the Philippine national hero. A year later, on February 1, 1902, the Philippine Commission enacted Act No. 345, which made December 30 a public holiday.

To underscore the solemnity of the event, President Elpidio Quirino signed into law Republic Act No. 229 on June 9, 1948 that prohibits cockfighting, horse racing and jai-alai every December 30.