Jose P.

Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna and he was executed in Bagumbayan, which I believe to be
Luneta in the present day. His father was Francisco, and his mother was Teodora.

I only have limited information about Rizal since it was many years ago that I studied about his life but
what I know is that Jose Rizal is known for his brave writings such as the novels “Noli Me Tangere” and
“El Filibusterismo” which mirrored our lives when we were colonized by the Spaniards. Through his
writings, Spaniards were alarmed, and it gave the Filipinos the courage to fight against the Spaniards for
our freedom. I believe the line, “The pen is mightier than the sword” has been popularized because of
Rizal’s writings and that he was chosen as our National Hero.

I learned Jose Rizal since Jose Rizal was taught to us when we were in elementary, high school and there
was even one subject in college dedicated to Rizal’s life and works. I have also been reminded of Rizal’s
patriotic deeds for our country through television and social media.

1. I cannot remember the exact name of Jose Rizal’s first love, but what I know is that he had many
romantic relationships. I am not sure if it is because of his intelligence, charm, or the way he
courted women.
2. As far as I remember, “Noli Me Tangere” means “Touch Me Not”. I am not sure why it is called
as such, but I think it pertains to Spaniards’ “untouchable” status, which made the Filipinos
difficult to overthrow the Spaniards.
3. I think Jose Rizal’s specialties include writing poems and novels which were not only impressive,
but also the bridge to encourage Filipinos to fight for our freedom which we are experiencing
right now. Jose Rizal is also considered as a polyglot since he was able to speak a lot of
languages brought by the several trips he had to study and work.
4. Jose Rizal’s greatest attributes are his great intelligence, determination to fight for our freedom,
bravery to fight against the Spaniards and his love for literature and the arts. However, I could
not think of appropriate weakest attributes, but I think one of them is the lack of proper
planning to effectively eradicate the Spaniards, but I don’t know if my claim is true.
5. Jose Rizal wants the Spaniards to end their tyranny against us since we do not like to be
controlled by foreign people. However, the Spaniards were persistent so Rizal had to look for
ways on how we could gain our independence and most of his ways was to publish a lot of
writings to remind the Filipinos to step up and claim the independence that we deserve.