Was Jose Rizal an American-Made Hero?
According to an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jose Rizal was first designated a national hero by the revolutionary President Emilio Aguinaldo of the First Philippine Republic. Rizal is a major figure in the Filipino national consciousness.
The suggestion that Rizal was an American-made hero comes from claims that American Governor General William Howard Taft had initially suggested the naming of a Filipino national hero, with Rizal as the preferred candidate due to his less radical and militant leanings relative to other possible candidates. While there is evidence for these claims, they do not alter the fact that Rizal had first been designated a national hero by independent Filipino authorities.