Happy birthday, Jose Rizal? Duh!

STA. ROSA, Laguna, Philippines—Twitter user @parengjoserizal expressed dismay over a number of netizens greeting him happy birthday on December 30, Rizal Day, which is actually the death anniversary of the Philippine national hero.

“Pabalikin sa elementray ang mga taong bumabati ng Happy Birthday Jose Rizal!” (Send everyone who greeted ‘happy birthday Jose Rizal’ back to elementary!)  he tweeted on Friday afternoon.

He has been retweeting the posts of others who greeted him a happy birthday.

One netizen, @ohcabicabi, tweeted “Punta kaya ako sa Bagumbayan. Tas kakanta ako ng happy birthday para sayo” (I will go to Bagumbayan then I will sing happy birthday to you.)

Another netizen, @SooGeraLdinn, tweeted “@parengjoserizal Happy birthday. Eksayted na ko kung paano mgcelebrate ng birthday ang pambansang bayani.” (I am excited on how the national hero will celebrate his birthday)

@parengjoserizal has been expressing his dismay over the large number of happy birthday greetings, even calling the attention of the Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) through their twitter accounts.

“@DepEd_PH @PhCHED we have a situation here! hindi na ito nakakatuwa! Happy Birthday Jose Rizal daw?” (This is no longer funny, they’re greeting Happy Birthday Jose Rizal?)” he tweeted Friday.

Jose Rizal was born on June 19, 1861 and was executed on December 30, 1896 in Bagumbayan, now Luneta Park. This year marks his 150^th birth and 115^th death anniversary.