I.

TASKS/QUESTIONS

1. Make a summarized biography of Rizal emphasizing the following:

-Family

-Early Childhood

-Formal Education

- Social, Economic and Political St ruggles

-Exile, Trial and Execution

-Impact to the modern-day nationalism

-Trivia/ Fun facts

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II. DISCUSSION

Considered as one of the largest family in Calamba, Laguna the family of Jose
Riza was wealthy in those times. The Jose Rizal family’s paternal ascendant was
Domingo Lam-co, a full-blooded Chinese who lived in Amoy, China and arrived in
the Philippines in the closing years of the 17th century. Domingo Lam-co was
married to a Chinese half-breed named Ines de la Rosa. The Mercado-Rizal family
had also Japanese, Spanish, Malay and Negrito blood aside from their Chinese
blood”(Sotto, n.d).

Francisco Mercado II, Jose Rizal’s father was the youngest of 13 children of
Juan and Cirila Mercado. He was born in Binan, Laguna, studied in San Jose College
of Manila and died in Manila. The mother of Jose Rizal , Teodora Alonso Realonda
was a business -minded, religious and hardworking individual who was born in
Santa Cruz, Manila on November 14, 1827 and died in Manila in 1913. She studied
at the Colegio de Santa Rosa and was the second child of Brijida de Quintos and
Lorenzo Alonso. The parents of Jose Rizal were both farmers who were granted by
the Dominicans with the lease of a hacienda together with a rice farm. The mother
of Jose Rizal, Teodora, had Spanish and Japanese ancestors while the father of
Teodora was a half Spaniard engineer known as Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo”(Sotto, n.d).

The Rizal surname was obtained by Francisco Mercado as suggested to him

by a provincial governor after the Governor General of the Philippines, Narciso
Claveria, issued a decree in 1849 by which native Filipino and immigrant families
were to adopt Spanish surnames from a list of Spanish family names. Jose Rizal also
obtained the surname Rizal after dropping three other names that made up his full
name. Jose Rizal also retained Protacio as his other family name. His family never
actually recognized his Rizal surname but Jose Rizal was forced to use it so that he
can travel freely and disassociate him from his brother who was known to be
notorious due to Paciano’s links with native priests who were executed after they
were found to be subversives”(Sotto, n.d).

Jose Rizal came from a 13-member family consisting of his parents, Francisco
Mercado II and Teodora Alonso Realonda, and nine sisters and one brother. The
eldest was named as Saturnina Rizal, born on 1850 and died at the year of 1913,

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she was married to Manuel TImoteo Hidalgo of Tanauan, Batangas. Second child
was Paciano Rizal born on the year of 1851 and died on 1930, he was he only
brother of Rizal, he became a farmer and later a general of Philippine Revolution.
The third child was named Narcisa Rizal, she was married to Antonio Lopez at
Morong, Rizal, a teacher and musician, she was born in 1852 and died on 1939.
Olympia Rizal was the fourth child born on 1855 and died on 1887 due to giving
birth, she was married to Silvestre Ubaldo. The fifth child was Lucia Rizal, born on
1857 and died on 1919, she was married to Matriano Herbosa. The sixth child, Maria
Rizal was born on 1859 and died on 1945 she was married to Daniel Faustino Cruz
of Biñan, Laguna. The sevent child and second son, Jose Rizal was born on 1961 and
died on 1896 due to execution by the Spaniards. The eighth child was Concepcion
Rizal born on 1862 and died at the age of three on 1965. Josefa Rizal was the ninth
child born on 1865 and died in 1945. And the youngest was Trinidad Rizal who was
born om 1868 and died on 1951(Basco, n.d).

The early childhood of Rizal reflected by his writing on “My Birth-Early Years”
that provided his reminiscences from the age of 17 to 18. We can also share our
values, aspirations and love to our family and motherland. His manuscript forms
part of the Rizaliana Collection of the Bureau of Public Libraries, Manila, National
Historical Institute, Writings of Jose Rizal, Volume 1, 1982, Chapter I - My Birth -
Early Years. The early education of Rizal reminded him about the “a jar that
contains the odor of the body that it first held”. The significance from this insight of
Rizal has shown the importance of education that must start at the early age. At
home provided him a habit to listen, read and learn by the education given by his
mother that made him understand the basic knowledge of artistic appreciation
about human compassion and love of nature (Bueno, 2012)

According to Basco (n.d) the memories of the earliest childhood of Rizal

compose of, when his father built a little nippa cottage in the garden for him to play
in the day time. And when Rizal’s mother gathered all the children of he house to
pray the Angelus, he also remembered the happy moonlit, nights at the azotea after
the nightly rosary. And the death of the little Concha was Rizal’s first sorrow.

The social stature of Rizal’s family had provided him the basic comfort of life
when he had a nanny and nurse at home. He appreciated in the way they cared
him. Rizal described his father as a “model of fathers”. While Rizal showed his love
with his mother Teodora Alonso y Quintos as he described “my coming out in this
vale of tears would have cost my mother her life had she not vowed to the Virgin of
Antipolo to take me to her sanctuary by way of pilgrimage (Bueno, 2012).

Rizal inherited his genius from his mother .Dona Teodora Alonzo Realonda
provided all the support in intellectual endeavour and polishing the true value of
education of Rizal. She made him the best gladiator in the arena of human

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intellectual struggle of his time. The gentle love and compassion of Rizal that
bounded by intellect that translated from his literary and political masterpieces that
later on shape the destiny of the Filipino nation. The poetical genius of Rizal was
aligned to the education that he received from his mother became the potent tool
to stimulate his artistic literary learning in poem and drama. At early age he learned
to read the bible. He began writing poems at the early age. Before the age of eight
years old he had composed a drama (Bueno, 2012).

The poem of Rizal about “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” was more on the advocacy
of nationalism, freedom and love of country through the unique expression of the
native language. The Rizal’s poetically explained that language is a divine gift to the
Filipino people that pursues the spirit of freedom and liberty. He was designed by
nature to be an artist. This he revealed before he was five years of age, for without
any assistance from others he began to draw with his pencil and to mold in wax or
clay any object he saw about him. When a few years later Rizal recalled those
joyous days of his childhood in Calamba, he revealed his heart in this poem: “in
memory of my Village. This was written in 1876 at the age of 15 (Bueno, 2012).

According to Basco (n.d), early education of Rizal was at Biñan, Laguna

wherein he was taught about reading, writing, arithmetic and religion. His first
teacher was his very own mother who was a remarkable woman of good character
and fine culture. His private tutors were Maestro Celestino, Maestro Lucas Padua
and Leon Monroy.

He started his formal education at Ateneo, to enter the Ateneo a candidate

was subjected to an entrance examination on Christian doctrine, reading, writing,
grammar, and elementary arithmetic. Jose did not take his entrance examinations
Jose did not remain in Manila but returned first to his town to celebrate the fiesta of
its patron saint; it was then that his father changed his mind and decided to send
him to the Ateneo instead. Since Mercado, the first surname of the family, had come
under suspicion of the authorities because it was the name used by Paciano when
he was studying and working with Father Burgos, in whose house he lived, Jose
adopted the second surname, Rizal. Paciano who accompanied Jose, found him a
house in Walled City, but Intramuros looked gloomy to Jose, and he later found
lodging outside, in the house of a spinster situated on Calle Carballo, district of
Santa Cruz. As if chance would furnish him data for his future campaigns, he
became acquainted in that house with various mestizos, begotten by friars. (Bueno,
2012).
The first professor Jose had was Fr. Jose Bech, whom he describes as a man
of high stature; lean body, bent forward; quick gait; ascetic physiognomy, severe
and inspired; small, sunken eyes; sharp Grecian nose; thin lips forming an arch with
its sides directed toward the chin." He was somewhat of a lunatic and of an uneven
humor; sometimes he was hard and little tolerant and at other times he was gay

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and playful as a child. Among Jose’s classmates were Peninsulares and sons of
Peninsulares; Francisco G. Oliva, very talented but not very studious; Joaquin
Garrido, endowed with a poor memory but with much talent and industry; and
Gonzalo Marzano, who occupied the throne of Emperor (Lim, 2011).

From the first days Jose learned to systematize his work; he fixed a program
of what he had to do in the twenty-four hours of the day and did not in the least
deviate from it. Thus, he disciplined his will and subjected it to the commands of his
reason(Lim, 2011).

According to Bascos (n.d), Rizal was active in extra curricular activities as he

was an “emperor” inside the classroom, a campus leader, an active member and
later secretary of religious society, the Marian Congregation, accepted as a member
of his sodality, and also a member of the academy of Spanish Literature and
Academy of Natural Sciences.

After finishing one year in Philosophy and Letters, Jose transferred to the
medical course. He enrolled in UST for two reasons first was to appease his father,
and second was because he was still unsure of what career he should pursue. Rizal
took up medicine following the advice of Fr. Pablo Ramon, the Rector of the Ateneo.
He also did so to be able to cure his mother's growing blindness. He finished a
surveying course in the Ateneo, but was not given the title of Surveyor because he
was still 17 and underage. After finishing four years in the medical course, Rizal
decided to study in Spain. He did not seek his parents' permission for this, because
he knew they would not allow it (Lim, 2011).

Rizal embodied and realized the best of what the Filipino can be. His
triumphs and struggles even against the certainty of failure inspired the
Katipunaneros to launch the Revolution despite great odds, and realize Asia’s first
independent Republic. And today, it is still Rizal that leads this generation to
continue and perchance finish what he began: the formation of a nation where
every Filipino is truly free. Rizal ceaselessly aspired for the ideal. When he came of
age, this took the form of fighting injustice in society. To liberate his fellow Filipinos
from the bondages of political tyranny and its corollaries, misery and ignorance,
became his all-consuming raison d’etre, pervading all aspects of his life, in the end
excluding all other considerations- family, friends, personal happiness, and life
itself. Rizal became a leader of the reformist movement called Propaganda, an
unwavering campaign for political and social freedoms, lobbying the peninsular
government, using their connections with the liberal Spanish politicians. He wrote
unceasingly for the La Solidaridad, mouthpiece of the Propaganda, hoping as did his
fellow Propagandists that the pleas of the Filipinos would be heard by the powers-
that-be. He produced the two novels that he hoped would succeed in achieving his

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goals where all other means had failed, but which ultimately led to his death
(Reyno, 2012).

The philosophy of a country like the Philippines is made up of the intricate

and composite interrelationship of the life histories of its people; in other word, the
philosophy of our nation would be strange and undefinable if we do not delve into
the past tied up with the notable life experiences of the representative personalities
of our nation. Being one of the prominent representatives of Filipino personalities,
Jose Rizal is a fit subject whose life philosophy deserves to be recognized. Rizal’s
social philosophy dealt with; man in society, influential factors in human life, racial
problems, social constant, social justice, social ideal, poverty and wealth, reforms,
youth and greatness, history and progress and the future Philippines”(Sotto, n.d).

In the Philippines, philosophers seem to be taken as outrageous, nasty, and

annoying. Being a Filipino himself, Dr. Jose Rizal joined the majority of the Filipinos
to consider philosophers as non-sense, dumb, and stupid - in fact, sometimes crazy.
This is evident in his use of Pilosopong Tasyo in his notable writings” (Sotto, n.d).

Rizal was known as an illustrado. In Rizal’s political view, a conquered

country like the Philippines should not be taken advantage of but rather should be
developed, civilized, educated and trained in the science of self-government.• In his
essay “The Philippines: A Century Hence,” contains predictions on the possible
future of the Philippines within a hundred years: first was that the Philippines would
stay a Spanish colony provided its citizens receive not only the rights and privileges
of citizens of the Spanish crown, but also the inherent rights of a human being;
second the Philippines will inevitably rise in revolt against Spain if continuously
exploited and abused; and that the Philippines may be conquered by other nations
after Spain’s presence in the country is extinguished. The restoration of Filipino
representation to the Spanish Cortes and freedom of the press2. Reorganization of
the administrative machinery and lastly the adoption of comprehensive examination
and the publication of its results and allowing Filipinos to have same opportunity
with the Spaniards to hold government office Rizal’s Concept of Government and
Politics Max Weber defines government as “monopoly of the legitimate use of
physical power ” In which is unfair says Rizal. It emphasizes the corruption of the
Spanish bureaucrat. Rizal wrote: “In order to govern people he does not know or
understand, he ought to possess the talent of a genius and extraordinary
knowledge”(Sotto, n.d).

The trial of Rizal that led to his execution was marked by three qualities. The
first was haste. The second was a meticulous observance of legal formalities that
gave the impression of legality and justice. The third, in contrast to the observance
of legal forms, was a disregard for the demands of real substantive justice. The
records of Rizal's trial, kept in the military archives in Segovia, were brought to

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Madrid where Wenceslao Retana carefully transcribed them. The transcript was sent
to Epifanio de 10s Santos in Manila who published them in 1913. The Retana
transcript came to the possession of Gabriel A. Bernardo, who placed them at the
disposal of Father Horacio de la Costa S. J., who published the Spanish text with
English translation and notes in The Trial of Rial (de la Costa 1961). This article will
appear in a book to be published later (Bernard, 1998).

According to Szczepanski (2019), in 1892, Rizal returned to the Philippines.

He was almost immediately accused of being involved in the brewing rebellion and
was exiled to Dapitan City, on the island of Mindanao. Rizal would stay there for four
years, teaching school and encouraging agricultural reforms. During that period, the
people of the Philippines grew more eager to revolt against the Spanish colonial
presence. Inspired in part by Rizal's progressive organization La Liga, rebel leaders
such as Andres Bonifacio (1863–1897) began to press for military action against the
Spanish regime. In Dapitan, Rizal met and fell in love with Josephine Bracken, who
brought her stepfather to him for a cataract operation. The couple applied for a
marriage license but were denied by the Church, which had excommunicated Rizal.

Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896. Rizal denounced the violence and
received permission to travel to Cuba to tend to victims of yellow fever in exchange
for his freedom. Bonifacio and two associates sneaked aboard the ship to Cuba
before it left the Philippines and tried to convince Rizal to escape with them, but
Rizal refused. He was arrested by the Spanish on the way, taken to Barcelona, and
then extradited to Manila for trial. Rizal was tried by court-martial and charged with
conspiracy, sedition, and rebellion. Despite a lack of evidence of his complicity in
the Revolution, Rizal was convicted on all counts and given a death sentence. He
was allowed to marry Bracken two hours before his execution by firing squad in
Manila on December 30, 1896. Rizal was just 35 years old (Szczepanski, 2019).

The young generations in the world for whom the novels of Rizal have been
made easily accessible through the publication of paperback Penguin editions and
all his works available online may possibly find the ideas of Rizal even today
resonating with relevance. Take Rizal’s concept of nationalism. Rizal was the first to
give the name Filipino, in writing, to the people of the Philippines. Before then, it
applied only to Spaniards who lived in the archipelago; the natives were called
Indios. In his Annotations to Morga”s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, Rizal pointed out
that Filipinos had their own culture before the coming of the Spaniards. In first
championing nationalism in Asia, Rizal became the pioneering exponent in Asia of
the universal rights of man. Rizal saw that the real obstacle to the reforms he and
the others in the Propagaqnda Movement saw was the presumption of the racial
inferiority of the Indios. In life and in his works he recognized the equality of
cultures, presaging the basic principle of equality of cultures behind the United
Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). From his childhood

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works, he took pride in his native language and culture. Of vital importance to
Rizal’s nationalism is education. Rizal believed that the real liberation of his people
lies in education, Rizal paid particular attention to the education of women. The
case of Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan who the Taliban tried to kill for her advocacy of
girls’ education is reminiscent of Rizal’s “Letter to the Women of Malolos” where he
praised and encouraged the crusading women for “it is the women who open the
minds of men.” Rizal’s nationalism is of the inclusive, caring kind. This he spelled
out in the aims of La Liga Filipina: mutual protection in every want or necessity,
defense against all violence and injustice, and encouragement of instruction,
agriculture, and commerce. It is a kind of nationalism that is compatible with a
caring, globalizing and interdependent world. Rizal in Noli Me Tangere writes, to
borrow an expression from Faulkner, of a past that is not past. The Noli is at the
moment of immense topicality when one considers that the novel is about the
cruelties and abuses of a tyranny that enslaves under the name of religion. Many
parts of the world, including parts of the Philippines apparently, are threatened by
movements to impose this tyranny. The ways of the friars live on in the refusal of
the Church to leave couples’ exercise of their reproductive rights to their own
judgment (Yambao, 2017).

Trivial facts about Rizal was composed of; Jose Rizal was a naughty boy in the
famous “Moth and Lamp” story, the young Jose Rizal experimented with drugs,
there are three animals named after Rizal the Apogonia Rizali, Draco Rizali, and
Rachophorous Rizali, the Rizal monument in Luneta was not made by a Filipino
artist, Rizal cured himself of tuberculosis, he was already a terrific sculptor even at
a very young age, when he was studying in Spain, Rizal had to pawn a ring owned
by his sister Saturnina just to pay for his exams, Mi Retiro”, the name of his place in
Dapitan, Rizal is regarded by many as the “Father of Philippine Comics”, Rizal was
widely featured in cigarette wrappers (Filipiknow, 2019) .

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Bibliography:

Sotto, D. (n.d.). HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF RIZAL'S FAMILY. Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/31898505/HISTORICAL_BACKGROUND_OF_RIZALS_FAMIL
Y?auto=download

Basco, J. (n.d.). THE LIFE OF JOSE RIZAL. Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/7596243/THE_LIFE_OF_JOSE_RIZAL

Lim, J. R. (n.d.). Education. Retrieved from

http://thelifeandworksofrizal.blogspot.com/2011/12/education.html

Reyno, M. C. (2015, September 7). Timeless Lessons from Rizal. Retrieved from
http://nhcp.gov.ph/timeless-lessons-from-rizal/

Szczepanski, K. (2019, November 16). Biography of Jose Rizal, National Hero of the
Philippines. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/jose-rizal-hero-of-the-
philippines-195677

Yambao, J. J. (2017, June 16). Jose Rizal: The Philippines' gift to humanity. Retrieved
from https://www.manilatimes.net/2017/06/16/opinion/analysis/jose-rizal-
philippines-gift-humanity/333203/

FilipiKnow. (2019, June 18). 36 Amazing Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Jose
Rizal. Retrieved from https://filipiknow.net/jose-rizal-facts/

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