Today, the nation pauses

not in silence, but in remembrance.  

Rizal’s light, once dimmed by a firing squad’s dawn,  

continues to travel across generations,  

a beam of courage cutting through the long night of injustice.

He wrote of freedom before we could speak it,  

dreamed of dignity before we could claim it,  

and offered his life so the Filipino spirit  

could finally rise, unbound.

On this day, may we carry his fire gently

in the way we think,  

in the way we speak truth,  

in the way we choose country over comfort.

For Rizal’s martyrdom was not an ending,  

but a lantern passed from his hands to ours.

Mabuhay ang alaala ni Dr. Jose Rizal.  

Mabuhay ang bayang patuloy na nagigising.