Assessment 1

Lesson 1: Narration

I lived in Los Baños, Laguna for sixteen years, and moving to Calamba, Laguna was not easy for
me. I am not a friendly person so it is hard for me to socialize until now. Because I have a lot of
friends living in Los Baños, I decided to just enroll here in LBSHS. Also, my only choice for senior high
school is this school because I know that teachers will exceed my expectations. It was already
proven and tested since I graduated from Los Baños National High School.

Having friends that are living in Los Baños is pretty much hard for me. Not in a way that they are
my friends but in a way that I am the one who will adjust and travel just to hang out with them. Of
course, I am the one living far away from them and I accept that I am going to adjust all the time.
But there are some cases when I am not able to go out with them because of the budget that I
have. The fair for one trip costs two hundred and twelve, to be exact. Plus the traffic that I will face
when it becomes late at night, around 7 pm to 8 pm. But while stuck in the middle of traffic, I get to
see the Saint John The Baptist Parish Church, and near this church is The Rizal Shrine, where our
national hero Dr. Jose Rizal was born.

Dr. Jose Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna on the 19th day of June, the year 1861. He was the
second-born son and the seventh child among the eleven children of Francisco Mercado and
Teodora Alonso. His mother was his first teacher as he began to study at home. After a while, he
continued his studies and entered a Jesuit-run Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1872 and earned a
degree with the highest honors in 1876. Even though he got a chance to study medicine at the
University of Santo Tomas, he decided to stop because of the discrimination that he felt on the
Filipino students by their Dominican tutors. Eventually, he went to Madrid at Unibersidad Central de
Madrid to finish his degree in Philosophy and Letters. After he graduated with a grade of Excellent
at the age of 24, the year 1885, he went to study in Paris, France, and Heidelberg, Germany. In
addition, he studied painting, sculpture and also learned to read and write in twenty-two different
languages namely Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian,
Japanese, Latin, Malayan, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tagalog, and other native dialects
such as Tagalog, Ilokano, Bisayan, Subanon, and Latin.

Rizal fought for freedom and justice using his pen and paper. He was a prolific writer and prefer
to write for freedom and justice rather than resulting in violence. Rizal's two books are Noli Me
Tangere or Touch Me Not in English and El Filibusterismo or The Rebel. He wrote Noli Me Tangere
while he was in Berlin, Germany, in the year 1887. El Filibusterismo on the other hand was written
while he was in Belgium, in the year 1891. These two books exposed the cruelty and inhumane acts
of Spanish during their period and these books were made as a marked man to the Spanish friars.

In 1892, Rizal finally went back to the Philippines and formed La Liga Filipina, a non-violent
organization that seeks freedom and promotes progress through commerce, industry, and
agriculture from the oppressive Spanish colonial administration. He was then imprisoned in Fort
Santiago on July 8, 1892, because of the charge of instigating unrest against Spain. He was thrown
to Dapitan, located in northwest Mindanao. During his four years in Dapitan, he practiced medicine
and build a school for boys that promotes community development where he applied his
knowledge in engineering by establishing a system of waterworks for the people living in Dapitan.
Aside from practicing medicine and building a school, Rizal met and fell in love with Josephine
Bracken.
Assessment 1
Lesson 1: Narration

The Katipunan, a secret group of nationalists launched a revolt against the Spaniards in 1896.
Even though Rizal had no connection to the said group, he was still captive and was brought back to
Manila and was put behind bars in Fort Santiago for the second time. He was sentenced to die after
his trial on December 26, 1896. He was convicted of not just rebellion but sedition, and of forming an
illegal association. The night before his execution, he finally wrote his last poem entitled Mi Ultimo
Adios or My Last Farewell in English. He hid this poem inside the gas burner and it was given to
Trinidad along with his wife Josephine.

Lastly, on December 30, 1896, Rizal was executed at the age of 35 by a firing squad in
Bagumbayan or we all know as Luneta Park in Manila.

Rizal was a man full of accomplishments, a linguist, a poet, a writer, a doctor, a scientist, a painter,
a reformer, and a visionary. Above all, he deserves to be called our National Hero. He was full of love
and faith for our country and he did everything for our freedom. He fought fair and let us all
appreciate the last poem that he left. It serves as an inspiration for our youth because just like what
Rizal said, "Kabataan and pag asa ng bayan."