FACT-CHECK: First lady mistakenly attributes Filipino proverb to Rizal

CLAIM: Jose Rizal said a known Filipino proverb.

RATING: FALSE

In an Instagram post, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos erroneously attributed Dr. Jose Rizal to a known Filipino proverb about honoring one’s roots.

On Feb. 22, Araneta-Marcos captioned a photo of hers in a meeting with Bago City executives. It read: “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan, ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.”

(“Those who do not know how to look back at where they came from will never reach their destination.”)

However no known manuscript, verified documents or accounts could attribute these words to Rizal.

In his opinion piece, Rizal scholar and historian Ambeth Ocampo argued that the national hero never uttered the Tagalog quote.

Ocampo referenced Rizal’s play, written during the martyr’s juvenile years, titled “El Consejo de los Dioses” (Council of the Gods), as the possible source of the misquoted proverb.

The words “Con el recuerdo del pasado, entro en el porvenir,” (“I enter the future with a memory of the past”) were written on its title page. 

As of writing, the post has gathered 11,900 likes, 531 comments and 29 shares on Instagram. Hurt Allauigan

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