It rationalized that the prevailing orthodoxy on Rizal and Philipine nationalis rests on fundamental theoretical and historiographic errors which resulted on a misrepresentation of Rizal and the ideological struggles of his day.
Filipinos have long been chained tothe idea that Rizal was an assimilationist and that he disfavors revolution. Renato Constantino's Veneration Without Understanding inched through a paradigm shift. It made a pivotal turn on our view of Rizal and the ideological struggles that Rizal perpetuated.
In a nutshell, it was telling us that Rizal is an American-sponsored hero. We should not let the errors of the past continue because we may never achieve our goals if we try to cling on to the ideas that has been presented to the different generations.
The book is based on the author's doctoral dissertation at the University of Hawaii. Unlike Constantino's work on Rizal, the book concentrated on patronizing and almost worshipping Rizal. Was he a revolutionary? Why did he work for Hispanization?
The author harnessed and cited documented testimonies from his associates, contemporaries and biographers to support the view that Rizal was a Revolutionary.
Pio Valenzuela further attested to this as the author cited his 1914 memoirs as Dr. Rizal said :
... Should the Katipunan be discovered, naturally you would take to the field. Do not allow yourselves to be killed. If they intend to kill you why should you allow youreves to be killed. In this sense, revolution is right.....
Quibuyen then lamented:
...The problem was not Rizal after all. all along the problem has been with our historians who, an unwittingly reproducing American colonial discourse on Rizal and the Philippine nationalist movement of the nineteenth century failed to read the popular imagination and the spirit of times....
Our history was recalled from the point of view of the foreigners. We had let them rule over our past and it is time to make a move that we institutionalize what Rizal, Bonifacio and other heroes had done for us. We did not only allow the colonizers to step and conquer our land but also we gave them permission to rule over our hearts. We may be blinded by the colonial mentality that we possess but it will never take away the fact that we are still not independent until we are united as one physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Quibuyen's work transforms and strengthens not that of Spaniards or Americans but of our own history. It does not invoke revolution but it merely corrects history, clearing away the cobwebs of the past and helping Filipinos .... uplift a nation aborted.
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