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After the Discovery - the Philippines under the Spanish Regime
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JOSE RIZAL:
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY TEOFILO H. MONTEMAYOR Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines was born on June 19, 1861 in the town of Calamba, Laguna. He was the seventh child of Francisco Mercado Rizal and Teodoro Alonzo y Quintos who both came from prominent families. Rizal showed already an intelligence even at a very young age. He learned his alphabets from his mother and at 8 years old he wrote his first poem, "Sa Aking Mga Kabata". At 16, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila graduating at the top of his class. On that same year, he enrolled in Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas while taking courses leading to the degree of Surveyor and Expert Assessor at the Ateneo. He completed his studies at the Ateneo and successfully passed the Surveyor's examination but was not allowed to practice the profession because he was only 17 years old at that time. In 1878 he was accepted at the University of Santo Tomas to pursue medicine. But Rizal felt that Filipino students were being subjected to discrimination by the Dominican faculty. So he sailed for Spain and continued his medical studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid. He earned a Licentiate in Medicine in 1885. |
| In the hope of securing
political and social reforms for his country and at the same time educate
his countrymen, Rizal, the greatest apostle of Filipino nationalism, published,
while in Europe, several works with highly nationalistic and revolutionary
tendencies.
In March 1887, his daring book, NOLI ME TANGERE, a satirical novel exposing the arrogance and despotism of the Spanish clergy, was published in Berlin; in 1890 he reprinted in Paris, Morga's SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS with his annotations to prove that the Filipinos had a civilization worthy to be proud of even long before the Spaniards set foot on Philippine soil; on September 18, 1991, EL FILIBUSTERISMO, his second novel and a sequel to the NOLI and more revolutionary and tragic than the latter, was printed in Ghent. Because of his fearless exposures of the injustices committed by the civil and clerical officials, Rizal provoked the animosity of those in power. Thus, he was imprisoned in Fort Santiago from July 6, 1892 to July 15, 1892 on a charge that anti-friar pamphlets were found in the luggage of his sister Lucia who arrived with him from Hongkong. |
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| When the Philippine Revolution started on August 26, 1896, his enemies lost no time in pressing him down. Thus, from November 3, 1986, to the date of his execution, he was again committed to Fort Santiago. In his prison cell, he wrote an untitled poem, now known as "Ultimo Adios" which is considered a masterpiece and a living document expressing not only the hero's great love of country but also that of all Filipinos. After a mock trial, he was convicted of rebellion, sedition and of forming illegal association. In the cold morning of December 30, 1896, Rizal, a man whose 35 years of life had been packed with varied activities which proved that the Filipino has capacity to equal if not excel even those who treat him as a slave, was executed at Bagumbayan which is known today as the Luneta Park. |  |
| The Discovery | Significant Places | After the Discovery |
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| Team 1 - the Historians | Team 2 - the Event Planners | Team 3- the Tour Guides | Team 4-the Observers |
Source: http://www.joserizal.ph/biography.htm
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A Philippine Experience: A Filipino WebQuest
created by
Chona R. Lauyan
May 2003