One of the highlights of the RIZALizing the Future exhibit at Yuchengco Museum – on view from June 3 to October 29, 2011 – is a lineup of lectures exploring different dimanensions to our National Hero, Jose Rizal. For three Saturday afternoons in July, learn more about Rizal’s influence on Southeast Asian history and culture, and whether Rizal’s destiny as a martyr was written in the stars.
Journalist John Nery will discuss the influence of Rizal in two talks.

On July 16, nery will talk on Imagining Independence:Rizal in Southeast Asia, focusing on the political uses of Rizal’s image as Malay genius and freedom’s martyr in Indonesian history – from the emergence of the independence movement and the last days of the Japanese occupation to Sukarno’s reigniting of revolutionary fervor.

On July 30, nery will discuss Rizzal in the Southeast Asian Imagination, specifically on cultural uses of Rizal’s image – an Indonesian translation of Rizal’s farewell poem, Mi Ultimo Adios; a dialogue by Malaysian scholar Hussein Alatas on Rizal’s essay, On the Indolence of the Filipinos; and the use of Rizal’s life as a crucial plot device in a novel by Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

John Nery was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore and is the first Sandra Burton Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University. A columnist and senior at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, he is the author of Revolutionary Spirit:Rizal in Southeast Asia and is working on his second book, on Rizal’s Tagalog correspondence.

In the first public forum of its kind, astrologer Resti Santiago will examine the National her’s astrological birth chart on July 23. Get astrological answers to some of the questions surrounding Rizal, and find out how his free interacted with is fate. Resti Santiago has been widely featured on top television and radio news shows to shed light on various aspects of Western astrology. He has had more than a decade of astrological study, training and education under world-renowned astrological masters.

All talks are free with museum admission and begin at 3pm. To register, call 889-1234 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Yuchengco Museum is located at RCBC Plaza, corner Ayala and Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenues, Makati City. Museum hours are Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm.