LESSON 2.

2: THE
R I Z A L FA M I LY
MOTIVATION QUESTION

What incident in your life which had made so much

impact on your life’s decision?
 T H E FA M I LY
B A C KG R O U N D O F
RIZAL
 1700’s -
growing anti-
Chinese hostility
by the Spanish
authorities.
 THE FAMILY BACKGROUND OF
RIZAL

• The Rizal’s were descendants of Domingo Lam-

co, a Chinese immigrant to the Philippines
during the late 1600s.
• Because of this, Lam-co changed their surname
to Mercado.
 THE FAMILY BACKGROUND OF
RIZAL
Upon the invitation of the Spanish landowners,
Lam-co moved his family to Biñan and became
landowners, too. His wife, Inez de la Roza gave
birth to Francisco Mercado I, who is the father of
Juan Mercado, the father of Francisco Mercado
II – Jose Rizal’s father
Lam-Co + Inez de la Roza

Francisco Mercado I

Juan Mercado

Francisco Mercado II

Jose Rizal
THE FAMILY
BACKGROUND
OF RIZAL

Don Francisco
lived in Biñan all
his life until he
married Doña
Teodora Alonza y
Realonda.
The Mercado
family leased a
Dominican-
owned farmland
and they built a
house made of
stone (bahay na
bato).
 THE FAMILY BACKGROUND OF
RIZAL
• Don Francisco adopted the name “Rizal”, in
compliance with Governor-General Narciso
Claveria’s decree in 1849 to adopt new surnames
for taxation purposes.
• In the same manner, Alonso chose the surname
“Realonda”. The word Rizal comes from the Spanish
word “racial” which means “the young green after
growth of fields'' or simply “green field”
GOVERNOR-GENERAL NARCISO
CLAVERIA’S DECREE IN 1849
 THE FAMILY BACKGROUND OF
RIZAL
• On June 19, 1861, in Calamba, Laguna, Doña
Teodora gave birth to her seventh child and
second son, Jose Protacio Mercado.
• Doña Teodora made a vow to take on a
pilgrimage to Antipolo in gratitude for having
survived a difficult childbirth
• His father was a model of all fathers who had
given all his children an education.
R I Z A L’ S
SIBLINGS
THE REASONS
WHY RIZAL
AND HIS
FA M I LY
EXPERIENCED
TOO MUCH
SORROW
• Doña Teodora was accused as an accomplice of
trying to poison the wife of her brother Jose
Maria Alberto.
• …when the three priests were executed on the
scaffold on February 17, 1872, at Bagumbayan…
THE REASONS WHY RIZAL AND HIS
FAMILY EXPERIENCED TOO MUCH
SORROW
THE SIGNIFICANT EFFECT
O F T H E C AV I T E M U T I N Y I N
THE LIFE OF A HERO
• One interpretation was that it all started when
Rafael de Izquierdo did not exempt the
workers from the tribute and that there was
this compulsory labor obligation…

• Although the mutiny was suppressed in less than

a day and no other actions followed, Izquierdo
proclaimed it as part of a widespread
separatist conspiracy.
RAFAEL DE IZQUIERDO
• While others view it as instigated by the
friars to implicate the Filipino priests led by Fr.
Jose Burgos, who was asking for the
secularization of the parishes.

• Other authors based on a spurious document

from Artigas, even speak of a friar resembling
Burgos going among the workers and
soldiers in Cavite to incite them to revolt
(Schumacher, 2011).
GOM-BUR-ZA HINDI
MAJOHA!!!
• The mutiny provided the reason for the
conservatives to eliminate the liberals,
took advantage of the incident, and arrested
several known liberals…

• The execution awakened the nationalism

of the Filipinos, yet at the same time aware of
the fact that anyone threatening Spanish
authority will be dealt with severely.
• This mutiny could have ended like any other
uprisings in the past if only the government had
been less fired up and acted more rationally.
 L ET US LOOK CLOSELY AT THE
EFFECT OF THIS MUTINY ON THE
YOUNG MIND OF RIZAL.

Without 1872, Rizal would today be a Jesuit and

instead of writing Noli Me Tangere would have
something different.
- (Adarna Book Services, 1999 from Jose
Rizal in a Letter to Mariano Ponce in 1898)