Nation to Commemorate Jose Rizal’s 118th Death Anniversary

The nation is set to celebrate today the 118th death anniversary of the nation’s celebrated hero, Jose Rizal.

Born José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda on June 19, 1861 to the wealthy Mercado-Rizal family in Calamba, Laguna, he was considered a Filipino nationalist, novelist, poet, ophthalmologist, journalist, and revolutionary.

He authored the controversial Noli Me Tángere, El Filibusterismo, and some of poems and essays.

He is widely accepted as among the greatest heroes of the Philippines. He was executed on December 30, 1896 by a squad of Filipino soldiers under the Spanish Army.

He learned the alphabet from his mother at three, and could read and write at age 5. Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, José dropped the last three names that make up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano Rizal, and the Mercado-Rizal family, thus rendering his name as “José Protasio Rizal”.

Of this, Rizal writes: “My family never paid much attention (to our second surname Riza), but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an illegitimate child!” This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who had gained notoriety with his earlier links to Gomburza.

Jose Rizal first studied under Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Biñan, Laguna before he was sent to Manila. As to his father’s request, he took the entrance examination in Colegio de San Juan de Letran and studied there for almost three months.

Jose then enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated as one of the nine students in his class declared sobresaliente or outstanding. He continued his education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila to obtain a land surveyor and assessor’s degree, and at the same time at the University of Santo Tomas where he did take up a preparatory course in law.

Learning that his mother was going blind, he decided to switch to medicine course at the medical school of Santo Tomas specializing later in ophthalmology.

Without his parents’ knowledge and consent and secretly supported by his brother Paciano, he traveled alone to Madrid, Spain in May 1882 and studied medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid where he earned the degree, Licentiate in Medicine.