Execution of Dr.

Jose Rizal at Bagumbayan

On December 30 , 1896, Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal, the greatest man of

the Malayan race, was shot to death at Bagumbayan (present day Luneta
or Rizal park), Manila, by a firing squad of native soldiers, on the
accusation of political conspiracy and sedition, and rebellion against the
Spanish government in the Philippines. Recognizing that the verdict was
made up, and the die had been cast against him, he said on the eve of his
death: "A victim is sought and I am the one who is chosen to bear the
whole blame. I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with
a tranquil conscience".

Dr. Rizal was born of a well-to-do family in Calamba, Laguna on June

19, 1861. He obtained his education successively from his mother, from a
school in Biñan, Laguna, then from the Ateneo de Municipal de Manila,
Santo Tomas University, and from the Central University of Madrid where
he obtained his doctor's degree in medicine and philosophy. This was
supplemented by his travels in France, Germany, England, United States,
and other foreign countries. As his biographers have noted, he was a
physician, oculist, painter, sculptor, philosopher, novelist, poet, philologist,
and agriculturist. In 1901, when the Americans took control of the country,
Governor-general William Howard Taft named Rizal as the Philippine
national hero. A year later, on February 1, 1902, the Philippine Commission
enacted Act No. 345, which made December 30, a public holiday, Dr. Jose
P. Rizal day.

Shara Faye M. Galpao

Execution of Dr. Jose Rizal