GEC 300: LESSON 4, 5, AND 6
LESSON 4
THE CHOICE OF PHILIPPINE NATIONAL HERO.
 Jose Rizal life and works are filled with
paradoxes & controversies in fact, more than a
hundred years have passed since Jose Rizal
execution at Luneta, yet Rizal’s life & works are
still hounded by controversies.
AMERICAN’S CHOICE.
 Jose Rizal is the Philippine national hero
purportedly believed to be an American
sponsored hero who was chosen by the
Americans because of his non-revolutionary
ideology.
KATIPUNERO’S CHOICE.
 While the Americans found him non-
revolutionary, Jose Rizal was associated with the
katipunan. Long before the coming of the
Americans, Jose Rizal was already the choice of
his compatriots as their leader that even without
his knowledge and consent, he had been chosen
by the katipunan.
 The Noli Me Tangere
- has served as the Filipino people’s mirror, for
them to see who they are, what they are, and
what they can be.
 The El filibusterismo
- has emphasized the necessity and the
inevitability of the revolution. Jose Rizal ideas
and ideals served as the seeds of revolution.
 Jose Rizal monument at Luneta.
- The monument of Rizal was created in a foreign
land. Rizal monument at luneta was designed
and sculptured in a foreign land, it was created
by a Swiss national, Henry Kissling, a runner
up in an international competition for designing
Rizal’s monument sponsored by the nationalist
in 1912.
 My last farewell (mi ultimo adios).
- This was inscribed on a marble stone below the
monument of Jose Rizal in Luneta. The poem
evokes sadness & admiration from Spanish
speaking foreigners, it has no meaning at all for
many Filipinos, the Filipinos are required to
memorize and recite this poem without
understanding & internalization of this literary
piece.
The Mercado - Rizal Family
The Rizal’s is considered one of the biggest families during
their time.
 Domingo Lam-co
- the family's paternal ascendant was a full-
blooded Chinese who came to the Philippines
from Amoy, China in the closing years of the
17th century and married a Chinese half-breed
by the name of Ines de la Rosa.
- Researchers revealed that the Mercado-Rizal
family had also traces of Japanese, Spanish,
Malay and Even Negrito blood aside from
Chinese.
 Jose Rizal came from a 13-member family
consisting of his parents, Francisco Mercado II
and Teodora Alonso Realonda, and nine sisters
and one brother.
 FRANCISCO MERCADO
- Father of Jose Rizal who was the youngest of 13
offspring’s of Juan and Cirila Mercado.
- Born in Biñan, Laguna on April 18, 1818;
studied in San Jose College, Manila; and died in
Manila.
 TEODORA ALONSO
- Mother of Jose Rizal who was the second child
of Lorenzo Alonso and Brijida de Quintos.
- She studied at the Colegio de Santa Rosa. She
was a business-minded woman, courteous,
religious, hard-working and well-read.
- She was born in Santa Cruz, Manila on
November 14, 1827 and died in 1913 in
Manila.
(SPNOL-MJC-JTS)
1. SATURNINA RIZAL
- Eldest child of the Rizal-Alonzo marriage.
Married Manuel Timoteo Hidalgo of Tanauan,
Batangas.
2. PACIANO RIZAL
- Only brother of Jose Rizal and the second child.
Studied at San Jose College in Manila; became
a farmer and later a general of the Philippine
Revolution.
3. NARCISA RIZAL
- The third child. Married Antonio Lopez at
Morong, Rizal; a teacher and musician.
4. OLYMPIA RIZAL
- The fourth child. Married Silvestre Ubaldo; died
in 1887 from childbirth.
5. LUCIA RIZAL
- The fifth child. Married Matriano Herbosa.
6. MARIA RIZAL
- The sixth child. Married Daniel Faustino Cruz of
Biñan, Laguna.
7. JOSE RIZAL
- The second son and the seventh child. He was
executed by the Spaniards on December 30,
1896.
GEC 300: LESSON 4, 5, AND 6
8. CONCEPCION RIZAL
- The eight child. Died at the age of three.
9. JOSEFA RIZAL
- The ninth child. An epileptic, died a spinster.
10. TRINIDAD RIZAL
- The tenth child. Died a spinster and the last of
the family to die.
11. SOLEDAD RIZAL
- The youngest child married Pantaleon Quintero.
LESSON 6
JOSE RIZAL in Calamba, Laguna (June 19, 1861)
JOSE RIZAL
- the seventh child of Francisco Mercado Rizal and
Teodora Alonso y Quintos, was born in Calamba,
Laguna.
- He was baptized JOSE RIZAL MERCADO at
the Catholic of Calamba by the parish priest
Rev. Rufino Collantes with Rev. Pedro
Casañas as the sponsor. (22 June 1861)
 The parochial church of Calamba and the
canonical books, including the book in which
Rizal’s baptismal records were entered, were
burned. Barely three years old, Jose Rizal
learned the alphabet from his mother?
 When he was four years old, his
sister Conception, the eight child in the Rizal
family, died at the age of three. It was on this
occasion that Rizal remembered having shed
real tears for the first time.
 During this time his mother taught him how to
read and write. His father hired a classmate by
the name of Leon Monroy who, for five months
until his (Monroy) death, taught Rizal the
rudiments of Latin.
 At about this time two of his mother’s cousin
frequented Calamba. Uncle Manuel Alberto,
seeing Rizal frail in body, concerned himself with
the physical development of his young
nephew and taught the latter love for the open
air and developed in him a great admiration for
the beauty of nature.
 Uncle Gregorio, a scholar, instilled into the
mind of the boy love for education. He advised
Rizal: "Work hard and perform every task very
carefully; learn to be
swift as well as thorough; be independent in
thinking and make visual pictures of everything."
 With his father, Rizal made a pilgrimage to
Antipolo to fulfill the vow made by his mother to
take the child to the Shrine of the Virgin of
Antipolo should she and her child survive the
ordeal of delivery which nearly caused his
mother’s life.
 From there they proceeded to Manila and visited
his sister Saturnina who was at the time
studying in the La Concordia College in Sta. Ana.
 At the age of eight, Rizal wrote his first poem
entitled "Sa Aking Mga Kabata." The poem
was written in Tagalog and had for its theme
"Love of One’s Language."
Jose Rizal in Biñan, Laguna
 His brother Paciano brought Rizal to Biñan,
Laguna. He was placed under the tutelage
of Justiniano Aquino Cruz, studying Latin and
Spanish. In this town he also learned the art of
painting under the tutorship of an old painter by
the name of Juancho Carrera.
 Having finished his studies in Biñan, Rizal
returned to Calamba on board the motorboat.
His parents planned to transfer him to Manila
where he could continue his studies.
Back in Calamba
 His mother was imprisoned in Sta. Cruz, Laguna
for allegedly poisoning the wife of her
cousin Jose Alberto, a rich property owner of
Biñan and brother of Manuel and Gregorio.
 For the first time, Rizal heard of the word
filibustero which his father forbid the members
of his family to utter, including such names as
Zamora and Burgos. (It must be remembered
that because of the Cavite Mutiny on January
20, 1872, Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos
and Jacinto Zamora were garroted at
Bagumbayan Field on February 17, 1872.)