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At first, it was funny and mildly annoying when some people online posted several updates on Heneral Luna, including the question, ‘Why was Apolinario Mabini always sitting down in the film?’
Well, this has escalated to a national issue now that no less than the president of the Republic has expressed alarm and frustration.
“Talagang napailing po tayo noong ikinuwento sa amin ito,” President Noynoy Aquino said in a speech at the Apolinario Mabini Awards, according to ABS-CBN News.
While he has not seen the movie, Aquino has also ordered the Department of Education to review how schools are teaching history.
“Sabihin mang iilang estudyante lang ang nagpahayag nito, masasabing isa rin itong repleksiyon sa pagkukulang sa kaalaman sa kasaysayan ng ilang kabataan sa kasalukuyan. At maya-maya ay tatawagan natin si Bro. Armin [Luistro] para ayusin ito,” Aquino added.
Mabini, tagged as the “Sublime Paralytic” and the “Brains of the Revolution”, helped shape the first Philippine Republic as the key adviser of President Emilio Aguinaldo.
Photo via Presidential Museum and Library PH
On Facebook, Epy Quizon, the actor who played Mabini in Heneral Luna, sparked a discussion as college students also asked him why his character never stood up during the course of the film.
Some history professors, for their part, say many of teachers don’t focus on “small, personal” details about a historical figure and it does not indicate how much a student actually knows.
“Hindi masusukat sa pagkaka-alam ng mga kabataan ng mga detalye tungkol sa buhay ng mga personalidad sa kasaysayan ang kanilang ‘alam’ sa kasaysayan. Lalo na sa mga unibersidad, lumalayo na ang pagtuturo ng kasaysayan sa pagmemorya ng mga ganitong detalye patungo sa mas malalimang pag-unawa sa mga isyu,” Prof. Van Ybiernas from De La Salle University tells ABS-CBN News.
But others, like Prof. Xiao Chua of DLSU, believe the teachers should make a conscious effort to encourage the youth to value their history.
“Alam ng tao na lumpo siya pero hindi kung bakit siya dakila. So ibig sabihin kung ‘yung trivial thing about Mabini hindi nila alam, paano pa kaya ‘yung mas malalim na aspekto ng kanyang papel sa kasaysayan,” Chua said.
