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Cortez, Maricris D. February 15, 2021

II BEE-Gen. Ed.

A Reaction Paper on the Documentary: The Secrets of Rizal's Family

Horacio "Howie" Gorospe Severino, a well-known Filipino broadcaster

journalist made a documentary on January 31, 2011, entitled “The Secrets of Rizal's
Family”. Severino’s documentary is about the secrets and controversies of Rizal’s family,
and why Dr. Jose Rizal didn’t put the ancestor of her mother Teodora Alonso on the
family tree that he made. In the documentary, it stated that Dr. Jose Rizal created a family
tree in 1896, the year of his execution, in the family tree the branches leading to his father
Francisco Rizal were complete, but the branches leading to her mother Teodora Alonso
were left out. The family tree leads researchers, including Howie Severino and his team
to make a documentary and investigate the secrets of Rizal’s family that leads Jose Rizal
in not putting the roots of her mother Teodora Alonso. Howie Severino went to Biñan,
Laguna to investigate the ancestor of Rizal especially the roots of her mother Teodora
Alonso. In Biñan, Laguna, Howie Severino met Dr. Rosauro “Bimbo” Sta. Maria, the
president of LTCATO, and one of the greatest historian researchers of Rizal’s life. He’s
one of the historians that are not in favor of demolishing Alonso de Alberto’s mansion
because he believes that the mansion has a big role in the life of Rizal’s family and that
mansion witnessed the secrets and controversies inside the Rizal’s family. Dr. Sta. Maria
accompanied Howie Severino to the Alonso de Alberto’s mansion, but at that time the
demolition of the mansion is starting, and it add to the controversies of the Rizal’s family
because some states that, the mansions shouldn’t declare as a national landmark and
should be demolished because it’s not owned by exactly by Rizal, it’s just owned by his
maternal ancestors. The conflict in the Rizal family started when Jose Rizal was ten, in
1872 Jose Maria Alonso the brother of her mother Teodora Alonso, came home from his
business trip in Europe and found out that his wife Teodora Formosa is not in the house
and has an affair. Because of his anger, he locked up Teodora Formosa in the house
and get the help of Teodora Alonso to guard his wife. And because Jose Maria Alonso is
the youngest sibling of Teodora Alonso, she helped his brother to guard Teodora
Formosa even Francisco Rizal, the husband of Teodora Alonso isn’t in favor because
according to him, it’s a conflict just between Jose Maria Alonso and his wife Teodora
Formosa. According to Barbara Gonzales, the great-granddaughter of Jose Rizal’s sister
Maria Rizal, that one day Teodora Alonso and her eldest daughter Saturnina went to
Teodora Formosa to give her snack, but instead of eating it, Teodora Formosa gives it to
her dog. The dog died and she accused Teodora Alonso that she’s planning to poison
her. Teodora Formosa called the head of the civil guards that turned out to be her lover
to get Teodora Alonso and put her in jail. That incident puts Teodora Alonso in jail for
more than two years. In one of the writings of Dr. Jose Rizal, he stated that the mayor of
Laguna convinced her mother to admit the crime in exchange for her freedom, but after
she admitted the crime she still didn’t get the freedom. On the other hand, not making
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 the Alonso de Alberto’s mansion a national heritage even it’s a 200 years old house,
adds to the controversies of Rizal’s family, rumors say that it shouldn’t be declared as a
national heritage because the Alfonso siblings are illegitimate children of Lorenzo Alberto
Alfonso. When Jose Rizal went to Biñan, Laguna to continue his studies he stays in one
of his Aunts instead of staying in the mansion, in the perspective of Dr. Sta. Maria, at that
point the Rizal family have already a conflict. Groups of researchers believe that the
Alfonso de Alberto’s mansion shouldn’t be demolished and declare as a national heritage
because that is where Teodora Alonso live her childhood, but on the other hand, the
GMA news interviews the current owner of the mansion Gerry Alberto, the great-
grandson of Jose Maria Alonso, he said the Teodora Alonso didn’t live in the mansion
and she didn’t even born there because she was born in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. And
according to Gerry Alberto, the house is owned by Teodora Alonso’s half-brother Jose
Maria Alonso. According to Gregorio Zaide’s book the legitimate parents of Alonso’s
Siblings are Lorenzo Alberto Alfonso and Brigada De Quintos, but in the book of various
researchers like in the book of Asuncion Lopez Bantug and Austin Craig it was mentioned
that Jose Maria Alfonso is just a half-brother of Narcissa, Gregorio, Manuel, and Teodora
Alonso. As Dr. Sta. Maria deepens his research he found a research paper stating that
there was a fixed marriage wedding that happened between Lorenzo Alonso, and a 12-
year-old Paula Florentino from Vigan, but they don’t have any offsprings. After 10 years
of being married, some say that Lorenzo Alfonso lives with Brigada de Quintos, which
makes the Alfonso siblings legitimate children, but some say that Jose Alfonso is the only
legitimate son. Lorenzo Alonso, the father of Teodora Alonso contributed a lot of works
in the missions of the Dominicans in Indochina, by that he was given the title the “Knight
of the Order of Isabel la Catolica”. When Lorenzo Alonso died, his property and
possession will be only inherited by his legitimate children. In the perspective and based
on the research of Dr. Sta. Maria, maybe there was an agreement happened between
the Alonso sibling’s, they agreed with each other that Jose Marie will be the one who’ll
declare that he’s the only legitimate child of Lorenzo Alonso, for them to have the right
on getting the properties and all the thing that was left. On the other hand, Barbara Cruz
explains another controversy inside the Rizal’s family, she said that there are some
gossips that Jose Maria Alonso had an affair with the eldest daughter of Teodora Alonso,
Saturnina. She explains that there are some gossips that the youngest sibling of Jose
Rizal, Soledad Rizal wasn’t his sister because it’s the daughter of Saturnina Rizal and
Jose Maria Alonso. Hence, in the last part, they examined the document in the library of
Ateneo University that was created by Rizal, in document he mentioned the roots of her
mother’s roots. It’s different from the family tree that he was created before his execution.

When I read the title of the documentary, I felt the excitement shivers
down to my body and it gets my interest. Watching a documentary like this will help me,
as an individual, a student, and as a Filipino Citizen to understand how our National Hero
Jose Rizal lives his childhood and what aspects did he get that affect his thinking and
doings in life. I’ve encountered many books, interviews, and many more that are tackling
Rizal’s life, but this documentary is the most comprehensive for me so far.

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 Looking at the controversies of Rizal’s family made me think that even the
family before has their issue inside the family. The conflict between Teodora Alonso and
Teodora Formosa gets my attention and interest. In my perspective, Teodora Alonso
doesn’t have any motive to poison Teodora Formosa because if she wants to put her to
death in the first place, she will not go into the Alonso de Alberto’s mansion to stop Jose
Maria Alonso’s anger. And in that, I like to commend Teodora Alonso’s love for her
children, that even though she didn’t do any crime, she admitted it because she loves
her children and she doesn’t want to be a way to them.

On the issue of the Alonso de Alberto mansion, in my point of view, the

mansion shouldn’t be demolished, even it’s not owned exactly by Rizal’s family it
witnessed the biggest conflicts, secrets, controversies, and scandals of Alonso’s roots.
The experiences of Teodora Alonso make and affects our National Hero Jose Rizal in
making his way to advocate fair justice in our country. Also, that mansion is too old to be
demolished, even it doesn’t have any connection to the Rizal family, (as the current
owner stated) it should be preserved because that mansion can be used to reflect our
country’s history.

Furthermore, deepening my understanding about the secrets and the

controversies of Rizal’s Family makes me think that there is a big part/reason why did
Dr. Jose Rizal didn’t put her mother’s roots in the family tree that he created. Maybe he
didn’t put them because he doesn’t want us, the present generation, to know more about
what is the scandals inside his family. Or maybe he didn’t put them because he knows
that there is no point putting them. After all, in the first place, Jose Rizal knows that her
mother and her siblings are the illegitimate children of Lorenzo Alonso de Alberto.

In conclusion, I would like to commend the way Howie Severino and his
staff by making this comprehensive documentary; they clearly tackled the secrets of
Rizal’s family without bias in getting the information that they needed. I would strongly
recommend this documentary to watch by all the Filipino citizen or even not, that wants
to know the controversies inside the Rizal’s Family.

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