JOSE RIZAL

José Rizal, in full José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, (born June 19, 1861, Calamba,
Philippines—died December 30, 1896, Manila), patriot, physician, and man of letters who was an
inspiration to the Philippine nationalist movement.

The son of a prosperous landowner, Rizal was educated in Manila and at the University of Madrid. A
brilliant medical student, he soon committed himself to the reform of Spanish rule in his home country,
though he never advocated Philippine independence. Most of his writing was done in Europe, where he
resided between 1882 and 1892.

In 1887 Rizal published his first novel, Noli me tangere (The Social Cancer), a passionate exposure of the
evils of Spanish rule in the Philippines. A sequel, El filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed), established
his reputation as the leading spokesman of the Philippine reform movement. He published an annotated
edition (1890; reprinted 1958) of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, hoping to show that the
native people of the Philippines had a long history before the coming of the Spaniards. He became the
leader of the Propaganda Movement, contributing numerous articles to its newspaper, La Solidaridad,
published in Barcelona. Rizal’s political program included integration of the Philippines as a province of
Spain, representation in the Cortes (the Spanish parliament), the replacement of Spanish friars by
Filipino priests, freedom of assembly and expression, and equality of Filipinos and Spaniards before the
law.

Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892. He founded a nonviolent-reform society, the Liga Filipina, in
Manila, and was deported to Dapitan in northwest Mindanao. He remained in exile for the next four
years. In 1896 the Katipunan, a Filipino nationalist secret society, revolted against Spain. Although he had
no connections with that organization and he had had no part in the insurrection, Rizal was arrested and
tried for sedition by the military. Found guilty, he was publicly executed by a firing squad in Manila. His
martyrdom convinced Filipinos that there was no alternative to independence from Spain. On the eve of
his execution, while confined in Fort Santiago, Rizal wrote “Último adiós” (“Last Farewell”), a masterpiece
of 19th-century Spanish verse.
Segunda Katigbak.

First love never dies they say—unless your first love is already engaged to be married when you meet.
Then you have to let it go really fast. Such was the case of Jose Rizal and Segunda Katigbak, a
Batangueña, whom Rizal met when he was only a 16-year-old boy.

They met when the young hero visited his grandmother with his friend, Mariano Katigbak, Segunda’s
brother. The Katigbaks were close to Rizal’s grandmother, and coincidentally, Segunda was at the
grandma’s house when Rizal and Mariano arrived. It was attraction at first sight. Segunda was also a
close friend of Rizal’s sister, Olympia, whom he visited every week at the La Concordia College. The two
became very close. However, Segunda was already engaged to be married to a man who lived in her
town, and Rizal had to stop pursuing her.

Leonor Valenzuela

Leonor “Orang” Valenzuela, Rizal’s second object of affection, is literally the girl-next-door. They met
when Rizal was a sophomore medical student at the University of Santo Tomas, during which time he
also lived at Doña Concha Leyva’s boarding house in Intramuros, Manila. Orang, who was then 14 years
old, was his neighbor.

During the courtship, Rizal was said to have sent Leonor private and secret love letters, which he wrote
using invisible ink made with water and salt—he was adept in chemistry, too. To read the letters, Orang
had to heat the letter over a candle or a lamp. Rizal also frequented the Valenzuelas’ home, which was a
hang out place of the students in the area.

3 Leonor Rivera
Leanor Rivera and Jose Rizal lived the tragedies of Shakespeare’s poems.

They met when Rizal was 18 and Leonor was 13, at the boarding house of Rizal’s uncle in Intramuros,
Manila. Leonor was Rizal’s second cousin.

It was a perfect love story in the beginning: he, the intelligent charmer, and she, the beautiful student
who had a beautiful singing voice and was a talented piano player. Soon, they fell in love. But as tragic
love stories go, they were besieged by obstacles. Leonor’s parents highly disapproved of their
relationship as they were wary of Rizal being a “filibuster.” In his letters, Rizal called Leonor “Taimis” to
hide her identity.

Before leaving for Europe in 1882, Rizal said that he had found the woman he wanted to marry. But even
his brother, Paciano Rizal, disagreed with the idea, saying that it would be unfair to Leonor if he were to
leave her behind after getting married.

But their love—as young loves are—wanted to go against all that stood in the way. Although they did not
get married, they tried to continue sending each other love letters, a lot of which were intercepted and
kept hidden by Leonor’s mother. In 1890, Leonor wrote a letter to Rizal saying that she was engaged to
be married to a British engineer named Henry Kipping. That same year, the wedding pushed through.

Upon the coercion of her mother, Leonor burned Rizal’s letters to her—but it was said she kept the ashes
of those letters. A story goes that she hid some of these ashes in the hem of her wedding gown.

4 Consuelo Ortega Y Rey

Consuelo Ortega Y Rey was the daughter of Don Pablo Ortiga Y Rey, who was Mayor of Manila when
Maria dela Torre was the governor. While Rizal was in Madrid, he would hang out at Don Pablo’s house,
which became a place where Filipino students would often get together. Through one of these
gatherings, Rizal met Consuelo.

He showed affection towards Consuelo but was not serious in his pursuit as he was still engaged to
Leonor Rivera at the time. Yes, he loved the company of women, but during that brief period, he too
was lonely and yearning for the physical void left by Leonor.

Although most accounts say the dalliance didn’t turn serious, Rizal wrote a poem for her, entitled, “A La
Señorita C.O.y.P.” Of course, these days, when you write a poem for someone, that’s like a marriage
proposal. In the end, Consuelo got engaged to Rizal’s friend, Eduardo de Lete. It is said that Eduardo’s
love for Consuelo was also the reason Rizal didn’t pursue the mestiza. Or maybe, in modern parlance,
theirs was a classic case of a rebound fling.

5 Seiko Usui

In many of his diary entries, Rizal wrote about how he was charmed by Japan’s beauty, cleanliness, and
peace and order. But if there was one thing that almost kept him in the country where cherry blossoms
bloom most beautiful, it was a woman named Seiko Usui, affectionately called O-Sei-San.

As days went by, O-Sei-San taught Rizal the ways of the Japanese. They went gallivanting, visiting
museums, galleries, and universities. They talked about the arts and culture, switching their language
from French to English and back as they pleased. Their love was childlike and spirited. According to many
accounts, Rizal was ready to move to Japan, stay with O-Sei-San, and live a peaceful life with his love.

Unfortunately for this relationship, country-saving duties would call and he had to leave Japan for San
Francisco. He never saw O-Sei-San again. Their affair lasted for around two months.

6 Gertrude Beckett
In the same year he began and ended his relations with O-Sei-San, our JR, then 27, went to London and
met a woman named Gertrude Beckett, the eldest daughter of his landlord. Gertrude showered Rizal
with all the love and attention of a girl who is hopelessly in love. She even assisted Rizal as he finished
some of his popular sculptures, “Prometheus Bound,” “The Triumph of Death over Life,” and “The
Triumph of Science over Death.” He called her Gettie, she called him Pettie. But all documents lead to say
one thing: the feelings weren’t mutually shared.

In 1889, Rizal left London, and left Gettie a composite carving of the heads of the Beckett sisters.
Marcelo del Pilar, Rizal’s friend, said Rizal left London to move away from Gertrude, whose idea of their
relationship was more than what it really was—the most tormenting kind: an unrequited love.

7 Suzanne Jacoby

When he arrived in Belgium in 1890, he lived at a boarding house that was run by two sisters whose last
name was Jacoby. One had a name Suzanne.

The relationship was probably a fling, too, as Rizal made no mention of Suzanne when he wrote letters to
his friends about his stay in Belgium. Rizal left the country in August that year. Suzanne was heartbroken.
It was said that Suzanne wrote Rizal letters. Rizal may have replied once. In 1891, Rizal went back to
Belgium—not for Suzanne—but to finish writing El Filibusterismo.

8 Nellie Boustead

Remember that famous time when Antonio Luna and Jose Rizal almost got into a duel because of a girl?
The girl in the middle of that madness was Nellie Boustead. Rizal and Nellie met in Biarritz, where
Nellie’s wealthy family hosted Rizal’s stay at their residence on the French Riviera. Before Biarritz, Rizal
already made friends with the Boustead family a few years back, and even played fencing with Nellie and
her sister.

During his stay at the beautiful Biarritz vacation home, Rizal learned of Leonor Rivera’s engagement and
thought of pursuing a romantic relationship with Nellie, who was classy, educated, cheerful, and athletic.
After strengthening their relationship, Rizal wrote letters to his friends, telling them about his intention
to marry her. They were all supportive, including Antonio Luna.

Although they seemed like the ideal couple, marriage for Rizal was still not meant to be. First, Nellie’s
mother did not think Rizal had the resources to be a good provider for her daughter. Second, Nellie
wanted Rizal to convert to Protestantism. Rizal refused. But their friendship must have been strong
enough because they ended up being friends after all the drama.

9 Josephine Bracken

Josephine Bracken was the woman who stayed with Rizal until his execution in 1896. She was also,
allegedly, the woman whom Rizal married. However, accounts of their marriage have been much-
debated over the years.

Josephine was the adopted daughter of one George Taufer, whom she lived with in Hongkong for years
before she needed to seek help from an ophthalmologist due to George’s blindness. They then sought
the help of Jose Rizal, who was already exiled in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte at the time. Rizal and
Josephine fell in love and in a month made the announcement that they wanted to get married. But just
like the other Rizal great loves, this one was once again complicated. No priest would marry the two, for
reasons that are still unclear—but perhaps it was because of Rizal’s status in politics. Without a legal
paper, Rizal and Josephine lived together, and had a son, who died a few hours after birth. Rizal named
his son after his father, Francisco.

Up to this day, there is no legal proof that Josephine and Rizal ever got married.