Sacrifice and Legacy of Dr. José P. Rizal Honored in Shanghai on 126th Anniversary of Martyrdom

Philippine Consul General to Shanghai Josel F. Ignacio led consular personnel in a simple wreath-laying ceremony before the national hero’s bust at the chancery. (Shanghai PCG photos)

SHANGHAI, 12 January 2023 – The Philippine Consulate General in Shanghai joined Philippine government offices, civic organizations and Filipinos in the motherland and the diaspora in paying tribute to Dr. José P. Rizal on the 126th anniversary of his martyrdom on 30 December 2022.

With the city still seeing elevated COVID-19 spread levels, Philippine Consul General to Shanghai Josel F. Ignacio led consular personnel in a simple wreath-laying ceremony before the national hero’s bust at the chancery.

After a minute of silent homage, Deputy Consul General Marlowe A. Miranda and PCG personnel took turns reciting stanzas of the National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario’s Tagalog translation of Dr. Rizal’s poem “EL CANTO DEL VIAJERO” (Song of the Wanderer). 

The piece, recommended by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for this year’s commemoration, expresses the hero’s own thoughts and sentiments as a lonely traveler, evoking the feelings of modern-day overseas Filipinos.

“By looking back to Rizal, a hero ahead of his time, we find a comforting continuity to our national purpose, and the impetus to work forward to a nation worthy of his dream”, said Consul General Ignacio, quoting a presidential Rizal Day speech from 1986. END

DCG Marlowe Miranda and PCG personnel took turns reciting stanzas of the Tagalog translation of Dr. Rizal’s poem “EL CANTO DEL VIAJERO” (Song of the Wanderer). (Shanghai PCG photos)

For more information, visit http://shanghaipcg.dfa.gov.ph/.