By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

(© 2009 Journal Group Link International)

C HICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – The annual commemoration to mark the 113th death anniversary of Jose Rizal Wednesday (Dec. 30) will not be held in the Rizal Community Center in the northside of Chicago, Illinois for the first time in more-than 20 years.

Manny Zambrano, local photojournalist and a member of the Knights of Rizal, went to the Rizal Center Monday (Dec. 28) to find out why his group is not observing the death anniversary this year of Philippine national hero inside the eponymous building.

Zambrano found out that the City of Chicago padlocked the Center last Dec. 18 for lack of hot water that affected the kitchen, the toilet and the heater and plastered the sign on its door: “License Suspended.”

Atty. Al Bascos, chairman of the board and former president of the Filipino-American Council of Greater Chicago, which owns the Rizal Center, however, explained, “The Center is not completely closed. There is still the business of distributing food for the elderly and a review class for the nurses.

“What is affected is the servicing of food for the seniors as there is no hot water available for that type of service as required by city building code. The pipe that feeds from the water heater is the old pipe that is original to building when it was constructed in 1952.”

He said, “Rene (Abella), the president of the FACC, had temporarily replaced some portion. But according to the City, the replacement was not up to City code.

“So, it is being replaced now by professional licensed plumber. Target date for completion is December 29th in time for the New Year's celebration on Dec. 31.”

Mr. Bascos added, “I understand that the Knights of Rizal did not want to take the chance of not having a venue for the Rizal Day celebration if repair is not finished by the 29th so the celebration is going to be held at Little Quiapo restaurant instead.”

The closure of the Rizal Center was something new to some Knights of Rizal members, among them, John Claridad, who invited this reporter “to attend the event at the Rizal Center.”

According to Felix Gonzales, Deputy Commander of the Knights of the USA Region, despite the closure of the Rizal Center, the observance of the anniversary will go on.

Ban Gallardo, another Knights of Rizal member, said a brief flower offering ceremony is going to be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the foot of the Rizal monument at a city park along Marine Drive between Lawrence and Wilson Avenues by the Lake Shore Drive in Chicago’s north side.

Among those invited to lead the flower offering were Consul Roberto Bernardo of the Philippine Consulate, officers of the Knights of Rizal and other community leaders.

Gonzales said at 6 p.m. of Wednesday, a simple program will be held in the Little Quiapo restaurant also in the Chicago’s north side where a member is going to be “initiated” (inducted) as a new KOR while others will be “elevated” to the KOR ranks.

What follow are speeches and remarks from regional and area KOR commanders.

The KOR in the US is called a Region, headed by Region Commander Rey Banta. The US Region is divided into Eastern US, Central US (including Texas) and Western US. A fourth sub region is being contemplated for Hawaii.

The KOR Central US based in Chicago is subdivided into seven chapters, namely Dakila, Bantayug, Chicago, Malaya, Peoria, Linconland (Springfield) and Houston (Texas).

In his second trip to Europe, Dr. Rizal made a brief stopover in Chicago as he took a cross-country train from San Francisco to New York in May 1888. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)

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