Recalling Rizal

The other day (June 19) was Jose Rizal's 146th birthday. I wrote about his stay here in Heidelberg, Germany when I tried to trace his footsteps in the same city last year.

Due to his arduous fight for reforms during the Spanish era, he was sentenced to death by firing squad. What if he were not sentenced to death, and lived a longer life and died a natural death? Surely, the Philippines' history would have turned another tide and history books would have told a different, and hopefully a better story.