4 THE LIFE OF JOSE RIZAL

I. Introduction

José Rizal (1861-1896) is one of the most revered figures in Philippine history. He was a
multifaceted intellectual and a political activist, best known for his political writings that inspired
the Philippine revolution and ultimately led to his execution by the Spanish colonizers.

This chapter we will have a deep dive in Rizal’s family, childhood, education, his trip to Europe,
his exile in Dapitan, up to his trial and execution. We will look into the life of our national hero, his
legacy, and contributions.

II. Learning Objectives

 Analyze Rizal’s family, childhood, and early education;

 Identify the people and events that influenced Rizal’s early life;
 Examine Rizal’s growth as a propagandist; and
 Identify the factors that led to Rizal’s execution.

III. Lesson Proper

Vocabulary Words:

• Chinese Mestizo – a person of mixed Chinese and Filipino ancestry

• Principalia – the ruling and usually educated upper class in Spanish colonial Philippines

• Bachiller en Artes – Bachelor of Arts degree given by universities or colleges

• Spanish Cortes – Spain’s lawmaking or legislative body

• Ilustrado – a term which means “enlightened ones” or the Filipinos educated in Europe

• Masonry – fraternal organization which strives for moral betterment

Rizal was born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna, a town where lies Mt. Makiling and Laguna
De Bay.

Francisco Mercado became one of the richest in Binan and owned the largest herd of
carabaos and was elected a Capitan Del Pueblo in 1783.

Francisco Mercado had a son named Juan Mercado who married Cirila Alejandra and had 13
children, including Francisco Engracio (Jose Rizal’s father).

Following Governer Narciso Claveria’s decree that ordered Filipinos to adopt Spanish surnames,
Francisco Engracio Mercado added the surname “Rizal” from the word “racial” which means
“green field”.

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Francisco Engracio Alejandro Mercado Rizal (1818 – 1898) had a good

education that started in a Latin School in Binan. He then attended the
College of San Jose in Manila.

Francisco married Teodora Alonso (1826-1911)

who belonged to the wealthiest families in
Manila. She was educated in College of Sta.
Rosa.

Because of Francisco and Teodora’s industry

and hardwork, the family became a prominent
member of the principalia class in the town of
Calamba. Their house was one of the first concrete house built in the
town.

Rafael Palma described the house:

The house was high and even sumptuous, a solid and massive earthquake-proof structure with
sliding shell windows. Thick wall of lime and stone bounded the first floor; the second floor was
made entirely of wood except for the roof, which was of red tile in the style of the buildings in
Manila at that time. Francisco himself selected the hardest woods from the forest and had them
sawed; it took him more than two years to construct the house. At the back, there was an
azotea and a wide, deep cistern to hold rain water for home use.

Jose Rizal is the 7th among the eleven children. The other children were:

 Saturnina
 Paciano
 Narcisa
 Olympia
 Lucia
 Maria
 Concepcion
 Josefa
 Trinidad
 Soledad

Paciano (1851 – 1930) was more than a brother to Rizal but served as his second father.

Rizal valued his brother’s advice. Paciano also had his college in Manila but later on decided to
join the Katipunan and fight for independence.

Rizal’s Childhood and Early Education

Rizal’s childhood was full of love and care shown by his parents and siblings. Because of his poor
health, Rizal had a personal servant, who after the daily Angelus, would tell him legends and
fairy tales. Rizal demonstrated intelligence and learned easily.

His first teacher was Dona Teodora who taught him how to pray. He learned the alphabet at the
age of 3.

Had private tutors: Maestro Celestino, Maestro Lucas Padua, and Leon Monroy (the one who
honed his skill in Latin, reading, and writing)

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He studied at the age of 9 in Binan with Paciano. He had his classes in a nipa house, thirty
minutes away from his aunt’s house.

Wakes up early to go to mass or study first, have his breakfast, go to school and come home at
10am. He would go back to school at 2pm and leave at 5pm. He would pray with his cousins at
6pm and then study for a while before going to sleep.

Rizal excelled in Latin and Spanish. He had painting lessons under Maestro Cruz’ father-in-law,
Juancho.

Rizal was sent by his father to Ateneo Municipal, formerly known as Escuela Pia, for a six-year
program, Bachiller en Artes.

Paciano advised Jose to use “Rizal” instead of Mercado to avoid trouble since it was openly
known that Paciano had links with Jose Burgos, one of the leaders of the secularization
movement and one of the three priests executed.

Ateneo was known to offer the best education for

boys. Students in Ateneo were required to attend
masses in the morning before the start of classes.
It is also known for its rigid discipline and religious
instruction that trained students’ character

Students in Ateneo were divided into 2 groups:

Romans (in-house boarders) & Carthiginians (non-
boarding students). Rizal lagged behind his
classmates but became the “emperor” because
of his perseverance.

Rizal studied at Ateneo from 1872 – 1877 and graduated Bachiller en Artes with the highest
honors.

Rizal was sent to University of Sto. Tomas and attended to study the course Philosophy and
Letters (1877-1878). In the same year, he took up a vocational course in Ateneo that gave him
the title perito agrimensor (expert surveyor) issued on November 25, 1881.

Rizal was more gifted in Arts and Letters than in Medicine.

In 1882, Jose and Paciano made a pact that Rizal would go to Europe to complete his medical
studies and prepare himself for the great task of liberating the country from Spanish tyranny.

Rizal in Europe

Rizal left for Spain on May 3, 1882 and he was just 20 years old. He made sketches of his fellow
passengers and of the things that he saw.

He reached Barcelona on June 16, 1882 and arrived during the summer vacation. He met with
his former classmates in Ateneo and they prepared a welcome party for Rizal at a coffee house
in Plaza in Cataluna.

He wrote the essay “El Amor Patrio” (Love of Country). This essay was published in Dyaryong
Tagalog and his pen name was Laong Laan.

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After summer vacation, Rizal moved to Madrid where he enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy
and Letters at the Universidad Central de Madrid (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) on
November 3, 1882.

He took painting and sculpture lessons at the Academia de San Fernando. He studied French,
English and German at Madrid Ateneo. He also tudied Fencing at the school of Sanz and
Carbonell.

In June 1884, Rizal was awarded the degree and title Licentiate in Medicine for passing the
medical examination.

He also enrolled for a Doctorate in Medicine but was not able to pay the fee needed for his
thesis. His family faced economic difficulty due to low crop production.

He took examinations in Greek, Latin, and World History.

He obtained the degree Licenciado en Filosofia y Letras (Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters)
from Universidad Central de Madrid on June 19, 1885 with the rating of sobresaliente
(outstanding).

Rizal met with fellow Filipinos in Madrid (Ilustrados) and formed the Circulo Hispano-Filipino which
held programs with activities like poetry-reading and debates.

In the house of Pedro Paterno on January 2, 1884, Rizal proposed the writing of a novel about the
Philippine society. It was in Madrid that he was able to write the first half of Noli Me Tangere.

Rizal was exposed to liberal ideas through the masons. He joined the Masonry and became a
Master Mason at the Lodge Soledaridad on November 15, 1890.

Rizal specialized in Ophthalmology under Dr. Louis de Weckert of Paris from October 1885 –
March 1886. In Germany, he also worked with Dr. Javier Galezowsky and Dr. Otto Becker in 1886
and Dr. R.Schulzer and Dr. Schweigger in 1887.

In Germany, Rizal met many scholars such as Fredrich Ratzel, a German historian.

Through Ferdinand Blumentritt, Rizal met Feodor Jagor and Hans Virchow, anthropologists who
study the Philippine culture.

He mastered the German language and wrote a paper entitled Tagalische Verkunst (Tagalog
Metrical Art). He also translate Schiller’s William Tell into Tagalog in 1886.

Rizal finished Noli Me Tangere in Berlin on March 21, 1887 through Maximo Viola’s financial help.

Rizal went home to Calamba on August 8, 1887 where he spent time with his family and opened
a clinic for the sick. He was called “Doctor Uliman” and was mistaken as a German. He left the
country again on February 16, 1888 for he was a hot target for the friars.

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Rizal became more active in the Propaganda Movement with his fellow
Ilustrados like Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Antonio Luna,
Mariano Ponce, and Trinidad Pardo de Tavera.

Rizal got busy in writing articles and essays for their newspaper La
Solidaridad. Some of his works are the following:

Annotation of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.

Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos (On the Indolence of the Filipinos).

Filipinas Dentro de Cien Anos (The Philippines a Century Hence).

By July, 1891, while in Brussels, Germany, Rizal finished his novel, El Filibusterismo which was
published on September 18, 1891 through the help of his friend, Valentin Ventura.

In 1892, Rizal went back to the Philippines on June 26, 1892.

He visited his friends in Central Luzon and encouraged them to join La Liga Filipina (a socio-civic
organization) that Rizal established on July 3, 1892.

He was arrested on July 6, 1892 and was charged with bringing with him from Hong Kong leaflets
entitled Pobres Frailes (Poor Friars). In spite of his denial, he was still exiled to Dapitan.

Exile in Dapitan

Rizal arrived in Dapitan on board the steamer Cebu on July 17, 1892. Dapitan was a politico-
military outpost of the Spaniards in the Philippines. It was headed by Captain Ricardo Carnicero.
Rizal stayed in Dapitan until 1896.

Here, Rizal:

• Continued his practice of medicine, scientific studies, and arts.

• Established a school for boys.

• Studied Malayan Language.

• Farmed and invented a wooden machine for making bricks.

On September 21, 1892, Rizal won the lottery with Ricardo Carnicero and another Spaniard. His
share amounted to Php 6, 200. 00. He purchased a land in Talisay and formed a house, school,
and hospital.

Rizal’s letter to Blumentritt described his life in Dapitan.

“I am going to tell you how we live here. I have a square house, another hexagonal and
another octagonal – all made of bamboo, wood and nipa. In the square, my mother,
Trinidad, a nephew and I live. In the octagonal my boys live – some boys whom I teach
arithmetic, Spanish and English – and now a patient who has been operated on. In the
hexagonal are my chickens. From my house I hear the murmur of a crystalline rivulet that
comes from the high rocks. I see the beach, the sea where I have two small crafts –

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canoes or barotos, as they call them here. I have many fruit trees – mangoes, lanzones,
guyabano, baluno, nangka, etc. I have rabbits, dogs, cats, etc. I get up early at 5:00. I
visit my fields, I feed the chickens. I wake up my folks and start them moving. At 7:30, we
take breakfast, tea, pastry, cheese, sweets, etc. Afterwards, I treat my poor patients who
come to my land. I dress and go to the town in my baroto, I treat the people there and I
return at 12nn and take lunch. Afterwards, I teach the boys until 4:00 and I spend the
afternoon farming. I spend the evening reading and studying.”

Rizal also made a map of Mindanao to teach geography. He also

constructed a water system for drinking and irrigation and helped people
in putting lamp posts.

George Taufer, a blind man and the one who adopted Josephine
Bracken, traveled from Hong Kong to Dapitan to consult with Rizal.

Josephine Bracken fell in love with Rizal and lived as husband and wife
(live-in) after being denied of the sacrament of marriage by Father
Obach.

On June 21, 1896, Dr. Pio Valenzuela informed Rizal of the founding of Katipunan and planned
revolution. Rizal objected citing the importance of a well-planned movement with sufficient
arms.

Rizal sent letters to Gov. Gen. Ramon Blanco to review his case. He said that if his request would
not be granted, he would volunteer to serve as surgeon under the Spanish Army fighting in the
Cuban Revolution.

On July 30, 1896, Rizal’s request to go to Cuba was approved. He left for Manila on board the
steamer Espana. On September 3, 1896, he boarded the steamer Isla de Panay which would
bring him to Barcelona. Upon arriving at the port, Governor-General Despujol told him that there
was an order to ship him back to Manila.

On November 3, 1896, Rizal arrived in Manila and was immediately brought to Fort Santiago.

Trial and Execution

On November 20, 1896, Rizal’s preliminary trial began. He was accused of being the main
organizer of the revolution by having proliferated ideas of rebellion and of founding illegal
organizations.

Rizal pleaded not guilty and bargained.

Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade – Rizal’s lawyer.

On December 26, 1896 – Rizal’s trial ended and was found guilty. He was sentenced to death by
firing squad.

On December 28, 1896, Gov. Gen. Camilo de Polaveja signed the court decision. He decreed
that Rizal be executed by a firing squad at 7:00 am of December 30.

Rizal wrote Mi Ultimo Adios during his last days.

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His mother and sisters visited him on December 29, 1986 and Rizal gave away his possessions.
Under the lamp he gave to Trinidad is his last poem.

At 6:30 in the morning of

December 30, 1896, Rizal, in black
suit with his arms tied behind his
back, walked to Bagumbayan. The
orders were given and shots were
fired. Consummatum Est! (It is
finished).

On 29th December, 1896 when Rizal was notified of the Report (sentence by the Council of
War), he refused to sign it stating that he was innocent of the charges against him and that he
was not a Chinese Mestizo as stated in the Report but an Indio.

“Eight native soldiers composed the firing squad. Behind them were eight Spanish soldiers with
Mauser rifles, ready to shoot the native soldiers if they refused to shoot Rizal.”

Rizal refused to be shot in the back, saying he had not been a traitor to the country or to
Spain. But the Spanish captain in charge of the execution told him that he had orders to shoot
him in the back.

Rizal reluctantly agreed, but he firmly refused to kneel or be blindfolded. One last request of
Rizal was that the soldiers spare his head and instead shoot him in the back near the heart.

The captain agreed. Rizal then shook hands with his defense counsel, Lt. Taviel de Andrade and
thanked him for his efforts in defending him. A military doctor came to take his pulse; it was
normal. The Jesuits raised a crucifix for him to kiss, but Rizal had already turned away silently and
prepared himself for death.

Rizal made a last effort to turn around, thus, falling lifeless with his back on the ground, his face
to the sky. Another soldier gave the body a “tiro de gracia” -- one last shot to make sure Rizal
was dead. Shouts of “Viva Espana!” rent the air. The band of the regiment struck the first chords
of “Marcha de Cadiz.” By 7:03am, the execution was over.

After the execution of Rizal his body was placed in a van and with utmost secrecy buried in the
old Paco Cemetery.

Sra. Teodora, the mother of Rizal, wanted to comply with the last wish of her son, that the family
take charge of his remains. After several objections on the part of some Spanish officials, Civil
Governor Manuel Luengo agreed to her petition. However, when the funeral coach left, they
had already secretly taken the body away, and Rizal's sister, Narcisa, went to all the cemeteries
of Manila looking for the remains in vain.

On the way back, she saw, through the open gate of the Paco Cemetery, some guardia civiles.
This gave her a hint. She entered the cemetery and after much searching found a freshly dug

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grave covered with earth. She gave the gravedigger some money and placed a plaque with
the initials of her brother in reverse, R.P.J., which means Rizal, Protacio Jose.

In 1911, Rizal’s remains were transferred from the Paco Cemetery to the base of the monument
which had earlier been erected at the Luneta (now Rizal Park). His aged, beloved mother was
still able to attend the ceremonies of the transfer. A few weeks later Sra. Teodora Alonso Quintos
died. It appears she made the effort to survive her son, to go on living until such time that her
son’s memory would be officially vindicated.

IV. Learning Activities

Activity No. 1:
Read the first known poem written by Jose Rizal in Tagalog: “Sa Aking Mga Kabata”

Kapagka ang baya’y sadyang umiibig

Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit,
Sanlang kalayaan nasa ring masapit
Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid
Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin,
Sa Ingles, Kastila, at salitang anghel
Sapagka’t ang Poong maalam tumingin
Ang siyang naggawad, nagbigay sa atin
’Pagka’t ang salita’y isang kahatulan
Sa bayan, sa nayo’t, mga kaharian
At ang isang tao’y katulad kabagay
Ng alin mang likha noong kalayaan
Ang salita nati’y tulad din sa iba
Na may alfabeto at sariling letra
Na kaya nawala’y dinatnan ng sigwa
Ang lunday sa lawa noong dakong una
Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita
Mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda
Kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
Na tulad sa Inang tunay na nagpala

V. Assessment/Reflection

Reflection No. 1:
After reading Jose Rizal’s Sa Aking Mga Kabata, reflect on his work and relate the message on
how you, as a student, can express love for your country.

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Rubrics for the Reflection Paper:

1 – Needs
3 - Exceptional 2 - Proficient
Improvement
Implies but does not Does not state or
Clearly states the
clearly state the imply the purpose,
Focus purpose, does not
purpose, does not diverges from the
diverge from the topic
diverge from the topic topic
Demonstrate a
Demonstrate a self- Lacks development
thorough self-
reflective analysis and self-reflection,
reflective analysis
supported by specific does not include a
supported by specific
and illustrative details, summary and has
Content and illustrative details,
draws conclusions insufficient details,
draws conclusions
and makes does not make
and makes
connection to future connection to future
connection to future
plans plans
plans
Presents the reflection
Presents the reflection Presents the reflection
in a compelling,
Organization in a well-organized in a poorly-organized
highly-organized
manner. manner.
manner
Uses articulate and
appropriate Uses appropriate
Uses slang and
language, proper language, word
improper word
Conventions word choice, and choice, and sentence
choice. Needs to
sentence structure. structure. Few errors in
improve grammar.
Very little to no errors grammar.
in grammar.

VI. Self-Test

Quiz yourself with a mini game show: “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”

A copy of the file will be provided to you in a PowerPoint presentation format.

VII. Post-test

All post-tests shall be given by the instructor.

VIII. Resources

Rhodalyn Wani-Obias, Aaron Abel Mallari, Janet Regindin-Estella. The Life and Works of Rizal: C
& E Publishing, Inc. 2018

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