SENATOR Loren Legarda filed a measure that seeks to include Jose Rizal as a naturalist and medical doctor in the teaching of Rizal lessons in all levels.

Senate Bill 2430 aims to amend Republic Act 1425 or The Rizal Law.

Legarda said that the Rizal law, which was passed in 1956, helped students appreciate Rizal more.

However, since lessons are mostly focused in his two novels— El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere — the other aspects of the hero’s life and work have been little studied and even less appreciated.

Legarda said that recent innovations in communication and the participation of the creative industries in the dissemination of the life and works of the country’s hero have bolstered the nation’s appreciation of Rizal.

Thus, the senator said a renewed interest in Jose Rizal and his imagining of a great Filipino nation is needed and government support for such studies and teaching is long overdue.