Secrets

Of
The
Family
Of
Rizal
Group 1
BUAN, JEROME
JAKE B.
CORDERO,
ALGIE J.
DIVINA, LIARIES
DANIELE S.
LOPEZ JR,
JULITO C.
 AGGABAO,
ALVIN C.
VILLAROSA,
WINMARK R.
Everyone has a secret they haven’t
shared. Everyone has a past no one’s
heard about. Everyone has talents that
people don’t notice. Everyone has
weaknesses hidden inside. Everyone has a
story left untold. In every family has its
own secret.

 There was this documentary entitled “Ang Lihim ng Pamilyang Rizal”, of

Howie Severino. It tells about the secrets of the family of Dr. Jose Rizal
exposes a lot on the side of her mother Teodora Alonzo, because of the
family tree that Dr. Jose Rizal made left out an interestingly branches that
was left unwritten and lead to the conclusion that Alonzo family have some
hidden secrets. The documentary topics about the quarrel between
Teodora Formoso and his husband Jose Maria Alonzo, the big mansion of
the Family Alberto that being demolished to become a Starbucks shop and
about Teodora Alonzo who told as an illegitimate child that became a
controversy in the history. For me, watching this documentary gives an
excitement and interesting story that is not common nowadays. Knowing
the story about her mother helps me a lot to understand the life of Rizal.
And I believe that this documentary and controversy is a puzzle piece, so
that we can understand the other version of the story of Rizal’s Family.
And I think that the upsetting mansion that is more than two hundred years
old were in fact considered as a historical landmark or heritage site of
Biñan, should be preserved, but according to the descendant of the
Alberto family, it is not connected to Teodora Alonzo and she didn’t lived in
that mansion, so as the owner of the mansion he or his family has the right
for it, so they decided to demolished it parts by parts and will be moved in
Bataan. A descendant of the Alonzo clan said in an interview: “You don’t
have to come from a perfect family to become a hero.” Come to think of it,
does it matter if Jose Rizal’s family had a troublesome past? Will that
make him less of a hero? I personally
don’t think so. He was loved and
protected by a family who inspired and
influenced him. These theories, true or
not, cannot reduce José Rizal from
hero to zero. Knowing all this
controversies, we should still respect
the family of our national hero. He and
his family had a big part in the history
and in the Philippines.
  THEORY : Teodora Formoso’s unfaithfulness
Jose Alberto found out that Teodora Formoso (his wife) was having an affair. Back from
a trip from abroad he immediately locked his wife in one of the rooms in their mansion.
Teodora Alonzo came to the aid of her hurting brother even it is against the will of her
husband, Francisco Mercado.

 Horacio “Howie” Gorospe Severino, a well-known Filipino broadcaster journalist

made a documentary on January 31, 2011, entitled “The Secrets of Rizal’s
Family”. Severino’s documentary is about the secrets and controversies of Rizal’s
family, and why Dr. Jose Rizal didn’t put the ancestor of her mother Teodora
Alonso on the Family tree that he made. In the documentary, it stated that Dr.
Jose Rizal created a family tree in 1896, the year of his execution, in the family
tree the branches leading to his father Francisco Rizal were complete, but the
branches leading to her mother Teodora Alonso were left out. The family tree
leads researchers, including Howie Severino and his team To make a
documentary and investigate the secrets of Rizal’s family that leads Jose Rizal In
not putting the roots of her mother Teodora Alonso. Howie Severino went to
Biñan,Laguna to investigate the ancestor of Rizal especially the roots of her
mother Teodora Alonso. In Biñan, Laguna, Howie Severino met Dr. Rosauro
“Bimbo” Sta. Maria, the President of LTCATO, and one of the greatest historian
researchers of Rizal’s life. He’s one of the historians that are not in favor of
demolishing Alonso de Alberto’s mansion because he believes that the mansion
has a big role in the life of Rizal’s family and that Mansion witnessed the secrets
and controversies inside the Rizal’s family. Dr. Sta. Maria accompanied Howie
Severino to the Alonso de Alberto’s mansion, but at that time the demolition of
the mansion is starting, and it add to the controversies of the Rizal’s family
Because some states that, the mansions shouldn’t declare as a national landmark
and should be demolished because it’s not owned by exactly by Rizal, it’s just
owned by his Maternal ancestors. The conflict in the Rizal family started when
Jose Rizal was ten, in1872 Jose Maria Alonso the brother of her mother Teodora
Alonso, came home from his business trip in Europe and found out that his wife
Teodora Formosa is not in the house and has an affair. Because of his anger, he
locked up Teodora Formosa in the house and get the help of Teodora Alonso to
guard his wife. And because Jose Maria Alonso is the youngest sibling of Teodora
Alonso, she helped his brother to guard Teodora Formosa even Francisco Rizal,
the husband of Teodora Alonso isn’t in favor because according to him, it’s a
conflict just between Jose Maria Alonso and his wife Teodora Formosa. According
to Barbara Gonzales, the great- Granddaughter of Jose Rizal’s sister Maria Rizal,
that one day Teodora Alonso and her eldest daughter Saturnina went to Teodora
Formosa to give her snack, but instead of eating it, Teodora Formosa gives it to
Her dog. The dog died and she accused Teodora Alonso that she’s planning to
poison her. Teodora Formosa called the head of the civil guards that turned out
to be her lover to get Teodora Alonso and put her in jail. That incident puts
Teodora Alonso in jail for more than two years. In one of the writings of Dr. Jose
Rizal, he stated that the mayor of Laguna convinced her mother to admit the
crime in exchange for her freedom, but
after she admitted the crime she still
Didn’t get the freedom. On the other hand,
not making
Title: MGA LIHIM NG PAMILYA RIZAL Dokyu ni Howie Severino

Date: Episode on January 31, 2011 Monday

 THEORY : Teodora Alonzo attempted to poison Teodora Formoso

One time, Teodora Alonzo together with her eldest daughter Saturnina, brought snacks for
Teodora Formoso. Immediately. Teodora Formoso put the food on the floor and called her dog
to eat it. The dog died instantly and she accused her sister in law of attempted murder. This is
the reason why Teodora Alonzo imprisoned for two years.

 There is also a story that Jose Maria de Alberto had an affair with Saturnina, his niece
which become Pregnant and give birth to Soledad. To conceal the shame, Saturnina with
his mother Teodora Alonzo Leave for a long vacation and later on come back with a child.
This child was claimed by Teodora Alonzo but most of the people hesitated to believe
and is said that the child differs from the other child Of Doña Teodora, this newborn
child was the most beautiful sibling of Rizal. On the issue of being an illegitimate child of
Teodora Alonzo, the story goes like this: Lorenzo Alonzo De Alberto (father of Teodora
Alonzo) had a fixed marriage to a little girl named Paula Florentino Before living with
Brijida Quintos (the mother of Teodora Alonzo), of course, the relationship honoured By
the law is the fix marriage making Paula Florentino the legitimate wife. Since it is a fixed
marriage, They never had a child. So it is easy to say that the children of Lorenzo Alonzo
to Brijida Quintos are Illegitimate.

 These documents have reached the Rizal

Library in Ateneo D Manila University).

 THEORY : José Alberto had an affair with

Saturnina
It is believed that José Alonso had a love child with her
niece Saturnina. Soledad, the youngest child of Teodora
Alonso and Francisco Mercado might had not been really their
daughter but the daughter of Saturnina and José Alberto.
 In the family, there has been a whispered myth about the legitimacy of Teodora
Alonso. They murmur that she and a sister were illegitimate but close friends of
their father’s legitimate sons. This gossip, coupled with the sale of the Alberto
house in Biñan, must have provoked Howie into research. He found out that the
father of Teodora Alonso and Jose Alberto was Lorenzo Alberto Alonso. In his
early 20s, for reasons unknown and undisclosed (after all it must have happened
almost 200 years ago,) probably political or financial, Lorenzo Alberto Alonso
went to Vigan to marry a young girl of 12, whose name was Paula
Florentino.After the wedding Lorenzo Alberto Alonso came back to Biñan and
probably never went back. They had no children. Ten years later in Biñan he lived
with Brigida Quintos and together they had five children. The second was
Teodora Alonso and the youngest was Jose Alberto. All of these five children
were illegitimate. Lorenzo Alberto Alonso could not marry Brigida Quintos
because he had been married before and therefore could not get permission to
marry again. So they lived together and had five children who, in the eyes of the
law, were all illegitimate.But if he had no children with his legitimate wife, an old
lawyer friend of mine says, then they would have been treated as legitimate
children under the law in terms of property after he died.Maybe, I said, but
nevertheless their legal status was illegitimate.Lorenzo Alberto Alonso got
knighthood from Queen Isabela of Spain. But when it arrived in the Philippines,
Lorenzo was dead. Apparently knighthood can be inherited by legitimate sons so
it was presumed that the family (according to the documentary) met and agreed
that Jose Alberto and his brother would become legitimate sons. That way Jose
Alberto could position himself as heir to the knighthood. Perhaps this is what
gave rise to the story that Teodora Alonso and Jose Alberto were half-brothers. In
fact, they were full brothers, both of them illegitimate, because their father had
married a much younger woman (but had not lived with her) and then later on
lived with their mother. The earlier marriage would have been annullable under
the old laws if it was unconsummated. But then this was an even older situation.
Almost 200 years old and the friars then had full reign.

I-Witness titled “Mga Lihim ni Rizal.”

Source: Barbara Gonzalez-
Ventura(Philstar.com)

 Theory 4: José Alberto is an illegitimate child but assumed to be legitimate

A theory has been presented by a cultural heritage advocate in the documentary

above about the legitimacy of José Alberto. Prof. Santa Maria theorized that the
children of Lorenzo and Brigida might had talked about the succession of the
family’s wealth after the death of their father, Lorenzo. José Alberto might have
had stood as the legal heir, though he is their true blood brother, and as a
consequence disowned his mother Brigida for the sake of the family. If this theory
is plausible, then it would appear that Teodora Alonso, her other siblings and her
own family were illegitimate (as claimed by the descendants of José Alberto).
Furthermore, José Rizal’s writings in the Rizal section of the Ateneo de Manila
University Library stated that Teodora Alonso and José Alberto really came from
one set of parents.