Saint Francis College – Guihulngan give his son a good education, he decided to send Jose to that town.
he decided to send Jose to that town. Doña Teodora
Bateria Poblacion, Guihulngan City Negros Oriental
Rizal’s Life & Works
Chapter 3: School Days in Biñan
Prepared by: Efraim L. Arellano
The first formal schooling of Rizal was in Biñan, the natal town of his father.
This town is near Calamba. He attended a private school under Maestro Justiniano
Aquino Cruz, who was reputed to be a good teacher. Rizal studied in this school
from 1870 to 1871, a brief interlude in his boyhood which was full of significant
memories. His account of his school days in Biñan gives us a vivid glimpse of the kind
of elementary education which Filipino boys obtained during that time. It was an
education with much religion and overly strict discipline. A pupil had to study the
hard way. He was whipped by the teacher to make him learn his lessons or to
behave well.
Early Schooling. The first teacher of Rizal, as we have already stated was his
mother. On her lap, he learned the Latin alphabet and the Catholic prayers. He was
given further instruction by private tutors, such as Maestro Celestino and later
Maestro Lucas Padua. Later his father hired an old man, Leon Monroy, who had
been his class mate, to give Rizal, the first lessons in Latin. This old Latin teacher
lived in the Rizal home, but he died five months later. His death cut short Jose's
instruction in Latin.
Don Francisco was not discouraged by the loss of the private tutor. He heard
of a good teacher, who was running a private school in Biñan, and, being eager to
agreed to his decision. Little Jose was then nine years old.
Jose Goes to Biñan. One Sunday afternoon in June, 1870, Jose, after kissing
the hands of his parents and a tearful parting from his sisters, left Calamba for
Biñan. He was accompanied by Paciano, who acted as his second father. The two
brothers rode in a carromata, reaching their destination after one and one-half
hours' drive. They proceeded to their aunt's house, where Jose was to lodge. It was
almost night when they arrived, and the moon was about to rise.
That same night Jose, with his cousin named Leandro, went sightseeing in
the town. Instead of enjoying the sights, Jose became depressed because of
homesickness, "By the light of the moon," he recounted, "I remembered my native
town, and I thought with tears in my eyes of my beloved father, my idolized mother
and my solicitous sisters. How sweet to me was Kalamba, my own town, even if it
was not so rich as Binyang!"
First Day in Biñan School. The next morning (Mon day) Paciano brought his
younger brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz. The school was in
the house of the teacher, which was a small nipa hut about 30 meters from the
home of Jose's aunt. Paciano knew the teacher quite well because he had been a
pupil under him before. He introduced Jose to the teacher, after which he departed
to return to Calamba. Immediately, Jose was assigned his seat in the class.
The teacher asked him:
"Do you know Spanish?" "A little, sir," replied the Calamba lad.
"Do you know Latin?"
"A little, sir."
The boys in the class, especially Pedro, the teacher's son, laughed at Jose's
answers. The teacher sharply stopped all noises and began the lessons of the day.
 Jose described his teacher in Biñan as follows: "He was a tall, thin, long-
necked man, with a sharp nose and a body bent slightly forward. He usually wore a
sinamay shirt woven by the skillful hands of the Batangueñas. He knew by heart the
grammars of Nebrija and Gainza. Add to this a severity which, to my mind, was
excessive, and you have the picture I have of him."
First School Brawl. In the afternoon of his first day in school, when the
teacher was having his siesta, Jose met the bully, Pedro. He was angry at this bully
for making fun of him during his conversation with the teacher in the morning. Jose
challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter readilyaccepted, thinking that he could easily
beat the Calamba boy who was smaller and younger.
The two boys wrestled furiously in the classroom, much to the glee of their
classmates. Jose, having learned the arts of wrestling from his athletic Uncle
Manuel, defeated the bigger boy. For this feat, he became popular among his
classmates.
After the class in the afternoon, a classmate named Andres Lakundanan
challenged him to an arm-wrestling match. They went to a sidewalk of a house and
wrestled with their arms. Jose, having the weaker arm, lost, and "nearly cracked" his
head on the sidewalk.
In succeeding days, he had other fights with the boys of Biñan. He was not
quarrelsome by nature, but he never run away from a fight. In these school fights,
he won some and lost others.
Painting Lessons in Biñan. Near the school was the house of an old painter,
called Juancho, who was the father in-law of the school teacher. Jose, lured by his
love for painting, spent many leisure hours at the painter's studio. Old Juancho
freely gave him lessons in drawing and paint ing. He was impressed by the artistic
talent of the Calamba lad.
Jose and his classmate, Jose Guevara, who also loved painting, became
apprentices of the old painter. They im proved their art, so that in due time they
became "the favorite painters of the class."
Daily Life in Biñan. Jose led a methodical life in Biñan, almost Spartan in
simplicity. Such a life contributed much to his future development. It strengthened
his body and soul. Speaking of his daily life in Biñan, he recorded in his memoirs:
I heard the four o'clock' Mass (in the morning), it there was one; or I studies
ay lessons at the same hour and heard Mass afterward Upon returning, I looked for
mabolo fruit in the grove and I ate it. Afterward I took my breakfast, which consisted
usually of a plate of boiled rice, and two fried sardines. Then I went to class, which
was over at ten. I went home immediately.
If there was a particularly appetizing fish, Leandro and I were told to take it
to the house of my aunt's sons (a thing which I never did at home, and would never
have done). I returned without saying a word, ate with them, and then applied
myself to my studies.
I went back to school at two, and was out at five. I played for a while with
some good cousins before going home. There I studied my lessons, doodled a little,
after ward taking my supper of one or two plates of boiled rice and an ayusigin. We
said our prayers and then, if there was a moon, my friends would call me out to play
in the street in company with others. Thanks to God. I never fell sick when away
from my parents.
Best Student in School. In school studies, Jose beat all Biñan boys. He
surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other subjects. Some of his older
classmates were jealous of his intel lectual superiority. They wickedly squealed to
the teacher whenever Jose had a fight outside the school, and even told lies to
discredit him before the teacher's eyes. Conse quently, the teacher had to punish
Jose. Thus Rizal, years later, said that "in spite of the reputation I had of being a
good boy, the day was unusual when I was not laid out on a bench and given five or
six blows.
End of Biñan Schooling. Time came when Jose learned all that Maestro
Justiniano could teach him. Accordingly, the teacher informed his parents that he
should be sent to college in Manila.

In December, 1871, Jose received a letter from his sister Saturnina,
informing him of the arrival of the steamer Talim which would take him from Biñan
to Calamba. Upon reading the letter, he had a premonition that he would not return
to Biñan, so that he became sad. He prayed in the church, collected pebbles in the
river for souvenirs, and regretfully bade farewell to his teacher and classmates. He
left Biñan on Saturday afternoon, December 17, 1871. He was thrilled to take
passage on the steamer Talim, for it was the first time he ever rode on a steamer.
On board a Frenchman named Arturo Campe, a friend of his father, took care of
him.
Upon arrival in Calamba, Jose was welcomed home by his parents, brother,
and sisters. The Christmas of 1871 was a joyous and memorable one for him. He was
home, and he regaled his brother and sisters with numerous tales of his fights,
escapades, and school triumphs in Biñan.
Injustice to Hero's Mother. After the happy Christ mas holiday in 1871, Don
Francisco thought of sending Jose to Manila to study.
Before June came, tragedy struck the Rizal family. Doña Teodora was
arrested on malicious charge that she aided her brother, Jose Alberto, in trying to
poison Alberto's wife. Jose Alberto, a rich Biñan landowner, had encouraged the
artistic development of his talented nephew, Jose Rizal. He had gone to Europe on a
business trip. During his absence his wife abandoned their home and children.
When he returned to Biñan, he found her living with another man. Enraged by her
infidelity, he planned to divorce her. Doña Teodora, to avert family scandal,
persuaded him to forgive his erring wife. The family trouble was amicably settled,
and Jose Alberto lived again with his wife. However, the unfaithful wife connived
with the lieutenant of the Guardia Civil to fabricate evidence that her husband
attempted to poison her, with Doña Teodora as an accomplice.
This lieutenant had an ax to grind against the Rizal family because at one
time Rizal's father refused to give him fodder for his horse. Taking the opportunity
to avenge himself against Don Francisco, he arrested Doña Teodora He was so
brutal in placing her under arrest, forgetting that many times he had been a guest in
the Rizal home.
Ordinarily, Doña Teodora, the accused, should have been confined in the
Calamba jail. The judge, who had also been a guest many times at the Rizal home,
was venge ful. Like the lieutenant, he nursed a grudge against the Rizal family
because he imagined that he was not accorded greater respect than the Filipino
guests in the Rizal home. He ordered that Doña Teodora be sent to the provincial jail
in Santa Cruz, capital of Laguna. The lieutenant forced the hero's mother to walk on
foot from Calamba to Santa Cruz, a distance of more than 50 kilometers. She
languished in jail, for her case dragged on until it reached the Supreme Court (Royal
Audiencia).
Doña Teodora, as a worthy mother of a hero, endured her cruel fate with
Christian resignation and courage. While her own family was in despair, she was
confident that someday, with God's help, her innocence would be recognized by the
court and justice would be done.
The Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za. The Rizal family had not yet recovered
from the painful shock of the mo ther's imprisonment when another calamity
occurred. On January 20, 1872, the Cavite Mutiny flared up, followed by the
execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora on February 17th.
Jose's older Brother, Paciano, then a student in the College of San Jose, was
boarding with Father Burgos, his beloved professor and friend. He was a trusted
assistant of Burgos in the fight for the Filipinization of the parishes. After the
execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora, Paciano quit college. He returned
to Calamba and related the story of Burgos' martyrdom to his younger brother, Jose.
Years later, Dr. Jose Rizal wrote of Burgos:
"He awakened my intellect and made me understand goodness and justice.
His farewell words I shall always remember-"I have tried to pass on to you what I
received from my teachers. Do the same for those who come after you."
 Jose Rizal was nearly eleven years old when the tra gic martyrdom of Gom-
Bur-Za took place. Despite his tender age, he was deeply affected. It was another
Spanish injustice, like that done to his own mother. It further buttressed his
determination to consecrate his life to com bat the evil forces of his times.