A.
THE MERCADO FAMILY
On June 19, 1861, Wednesday, Jose Protacio Rizal
Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born in Calamba,
Laguna. He was seventh of the eleven children, and
second son to Francisco (Kikoy) Mercado and Teodora
(Lolay) Alonso. Days later, he was baptized in the parish
church of Calamba by Fr. Rufino Collantes. His godfather
was Fr. Pedro Casaňas.
His father, Francisco Mercado was a businessman from
Biňan, Laguna who settled in Calamba after being able
to establish his sugar farm through a lease with the
Dominicans. His mother, Teodora Alonso, although born
in Manila, became a resident also of Biňan and was
educated also in Laguna. The eleven children they had
are as follows:
1. Saturnina or “Neneng” (1850-1913) the eldest
and who became wife to Manuel Hidalgo.
2. Paciano (1851-1930) the farm caretaker, had a
common-law wife named Severina Decena
3. Narcisa or “Sisa” (1852-1939) who was married
to Antonino Lopez.
4. Olimpia or “Ipiang” (1855-1887) who became
the wife of Silvestre Ubaldo
5. Lucia (1857-1919) who espoused Mariano
Herbosa.
6. Maria or “Biang” (1859-1945) who became the
wife of Daniel Faustino Cruz.
7. Jose Protacio or “Pepe” (1861-1896) the great
Filipino, was the most educated. He married
Josephine Bracken, an Irish.
8. Concepcion or “Concha” (1862-1865) who died
at the age of three due to illness.
9. Josefa or “Panggoy” (1865-1945) who lived as a
spinster. She was an epileptic.
10. Trinidad or “Trining” (1868-1951) was never
married and also died as a spinster. She was put
in-charge of Rizal’s property in Dapitan.
11. Soledad or “Loleng” (1870-1929) the youngest,
became the wife of Pantaleon Quintero. She will
marry another later, Luis Beliso, a Spanish
soldier.
THE ANCESTRY.
On the father side, Rizal’s great great grandfather was
the Chinese immigrant Domingo Lamco, who married a
Filipina named Ines dela Rosa. Their children were
Francisco and Clemente. Francisco married Bernarda
Monica. They had a son named Juan Mercado who then
married Cirila Alejandra. Juan and Cyrila were blessed
with thirteen children. One of them was Francisco
Mercado who married Teodora Alonso. Francisco
Mercado established himself in Calamba with his two
sisters after acquiring a tenancy assignment in the
Dominican Hacienda in Calamba, Laguna. In 1849, when
Gov. Narciso Claveria issued the decree on the
Hispanization of Filipino names, he was given the new
surname Rizal, from the Latin ‘ricial’ meaning ‘rice
fields.’
From the side of Rizal’s mother, Gregorio Alonso I was
Rizal’s great-great grandfather. Cipriano Alonso was his
son who became gobernadorcillo of Biňan in 1797. He
was the father of Lorenzo Alberto Alonso who had an
earlier marriage to a girl named Paula Florentino but
was separated. He took later Brigida de Quintos for his
wife, but were not married. Don Lorenzo became, in
1824, gobernadorcillo of Biňan. He was, at one time,
became a representative of the colonial government to
the Spanish Cortes and, also a recipient of a Spanish
knighthood during the reign of Queen Isabel II. Lorenzo
and Brigida had five children namely: Narcisa, Teodora,
Gregorio, Manuel and Jose Alberto (who is rumored to
have come from Paula).
When Governor General Narciso Claveria issued the
decree for the revision and adoption of new names, the
children of Lorenzo Alberto Alonso adopted the name
Realonda. Thus, the name Teodora Alonso became
Teodora Alonso Realonda. Dona Teodora was educated
in Colegio de Sta. Rosa. In 1848, she married Francisco
Mercado.
B. CHILDHOOD DAYS
Calamba, Laguna was a special place for Jose Rizal. It is
where he was born, grew up and spent his early
childhood. Even when Rizal was already in Europe he
would remember this town as the place where he spent
some of the most joyous times of his life.
The Rizal home, which is preserved to this day, is huge
and is built of stones (granite) and tiles. It has many
rooms, for the girls, the boys, another for the couple
and quarters for servants. The house has a large dining
table with a big fan on the ceiling. It also has a huge
kitchen, a rest room and a well inside. They also had
more than a thousand volumes of Latin and Spanish
books in the library. In the backyard is a nipa hut
wherein the children played. Many fruit trees
surrounded the house.
Rizal’s family was one of the richest families in Calamba.
Indeed, they belonged to the principalia class. The main
source of livelihood was the sugarcane plantation of
which the land was leased from the Dominicans who
possessed the town of Calamba. The farm also had
coconuts (copra), some rice fields, fruit trees and a large
turkey farm. Added to these, the family milled their
sugar and had a ham press operated by Teodora. They
were also the first family in Calamba to own a horse-
drawn carriage, the carruaje. With Dona Lolay coming
from a family was rather popular not only in Calamba
but also in Biňan, and was well respected by the
townfolks.
EARLY LEARNING.
At an early age Moy (Jose) proved to be truly gifted. His
mother was his first teacher. At three he was already
taught how to read Latin and Spanish alphabet. He was
instructed to work fast and efficiently, be honest at all
times, and always pray to God for help and everlasting
mercy.
Jose learned many stories and legends already even at a
young age. He remembered how his ‘yaya’ would
always frighten him through stories of the creatures of
the night. However, of all the stories told, one he would
never forget was that of ‘The Moth and the Flame’ from
the book, El Amigo de los Niňos. The story was about a
young moth who was told by his mother not to go near
to the light. However, the little moth did not listen. It
flew near the flame which caught its wings and caused
its death. Jose came to a lesson that what parents tell
and give their children is all for their good and not to
listen to them may cause them harm.
A SAD MEMORY.
The first sad memory Jose could recall as a child is when
his younger sister, playmate and bestfriend, Concha
died of sickness at the age of three. Jose was four at the
time. Josefa, the next sister, should have taken the
place of Concha, but with her health condition, being an
epileptic, Jose was probably more of a caretaker to her
rather than a playmate. Trining, the next one to Josefa,
became much even closer to Jose. Trining was Rizal’s
protégé. As a result, she became strong in character.
THE UNCLES.
Some of those who became very influential to Pepe
when he was young were the three brothers of his
mother. They were uncles Gregorio, Manuel and Jose
Alberto. Of these uncles, Jose Alberto was only a half-
brother of Dona Lolay. Nevertheless, all of them were
close to the Mercado-Rizal family and frequently visited
their house. Pepe would always be brought along by
these uncles to teach him things that would become
some of his interests in the later years. Jose, an artist
and an engineer, would teach Pepe skills in sketching
and drawing. Manuel, being an athlete, would teach
him fencing and wrestling. Lastly, his uncle Gregorio
who was a writer would instill in him the passion for
writing, and an appreciation to poetry and literature,
THE FIRST OUT OF TOWN TRAVEL.
When Dona Lolay gave birth to Soledad, their eleventh
child, she became so weak right after that she could not
fulfill her promise that time for a pilgrimage to Our Lady
of Peace and Good Voyage of Antipolo. The fulfill this
devotion, Don Francisco together with Jose went to
Antipolo for the pilgrimage. Jose was then seven years
old. They proceeded afterwards to Manila where they
visited Saturnina who was then a boarding student at La
Concordia College in Sta. Ana.
FIRST WRITING.
When he reached the age of eight, he wrote an untitled
poem about a love, one that is for the native tongue or
language. Here, he expressed the Tagalog language as
one of that is in equal footing with Latin and Spanish,
and how sad it is that natives would have study and use
the foreign ones when they have their own to be proud
of. A young critic, he added that a man who does not
love his own language is worse than any beast or evil-
smelling fish. Rizal scholars later entitled this early
masterpiece as ‘Sa Aking Mga Kababata.’ However,
some contested that the title should have been ‘Sa
Aking Katutubong Wika’ since the poem is about
language, and not youth.

BIŇAN STUDIES

In 1870, at the age of nine, Jose was sent by his parents

to Biňan to study under the instruction of Maestro
Aquino Cruz. Maestro Justiniano was well known for his
knowledge of Latin and Spanish grammar and was also a
former teacher of Paciano. Pepe remembered how
strict he was that he would hit the palms of his pupils
whenever they fail to recite well.

Jose lived with his aunt Tomasa, Don Kikoy’s sister, in

Biňan. Here, he befriended Leandro, his cousin’s son.
His best friend in the class was Jose Guevarra who was
also his painting partner under the instruction of Mang
Juancho, the old father-in-law of Maestro Justiniano.
Jose also received instruction under Maestro Lucas
Padua. He was likewise, given a Latin tutor in the person
of Leon Monroy.

Being frail and thin, Jose was initially bullied by his

classmates. One of them was the boy Pedro, the
maestro’s son, whom he remembered as the first one
he had brawl with. Another one was Andres Salandanan
who almost broke his arm during an arm-wrestling
contest. While in his studies, during the first weeks, he
received ruler blows on his palms for his mistakes and
mischief. The pain of Maestro Justiniano’s punishment
brought him to take studies seriously. Later on, he was
able to catch up quickly and win the many prizes in
competitions held by the maestro. He had beaten all the
Biňan boys. In 1971, his Biňan studies ended.