According to the EcoWaste Coalition, a network of 125 environmental groups, Rizal, during his exile in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, contributed much to community health and the environment.
Little is known about Rizal’s devotion to improving community health and environment long before the Constitution formally committed to promoting and protecting the health and environmental rights of the people, EcoWaste said.
The present Constitution of the Philippines declares the pursuit of the people’s “right to health” and the “right to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature” as state policies.
“We can find in Rizal the qualities and skills of an authentic Filipino who treasures our natural patrimony and uses the earth’s resources for the health and well-being of the people,” Roy Alvarez, EcoWaste president, said.
Rizal, an animal and plant lover, also excelled in many fields of environmental work, including as an agriculturist, botanist, conchologist, horticulturist, ichthyologist, sanitary engineer and zoologist, Alvarez said, quoting Rizal’s best friend Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt.
Rizal lived a vibrant life as a political exile from 1892 to 1896 in the town of Dapitan, now a thriving city with scenic beaches and hills in the province of Zamboanga del Norte.
“As an environmental health and rural reconstruction champion of his era, Rizal carried out community projects in Dapitan that afforded the people with tangible health, sanitation and ecological benefits,” the group stressed.
Among Rizal’s projects were the aqueduct that the national hero engineered from a mountain stream that gave the people of Dapitan access to clean water, the draining of swamps to control the breeding of malaria-causing mosquitoes, the provision of a street lighting system using coconut-oil lamps, and the beautification of the town plaza.
As an herbalist, Rizal, who was also a physician specializing on eye diseases, studied locally grown medicinal plants and prescribed these to his poor patients who could not afford the cost of modern medicine.
Rizal also collected samples of animals and plants from the forest and seashores, including an amazing collection of 346 shells consisting of 203 species, and 38 new varieties of fish. Some rare specimens have even been named after him, such as the Apogonia rizali (a beetle), Draco rizali (a flying dragon) and Rhacophorus rizali (a frog).
As a farmer, he planted and cared for hundreds of trees in Dapitan, including a very old dao tree that is still standing in the city, a living testament to Rizal’s passion for nature, the EcoWaste Coalition added.
“As we mark his 150th birthday, we join our historians in inviting the entire nation, especially the youth, to rediscover and celebrate Rizal, particularly his unheralded service to the environment,” Alvarez said.
