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Dr. Jose Protacio Alonzo Mercado
Rizal y Realonda, the first Filipino who aroused a sense of national consciousness among
his countrymen, was born in Calamba, Laguna on June 19, 1861. Brought up in privileged
circumstances, the richly gifted and talented boy went to a Jesuit school in Manila, then
to the University of Santo Tomas to study medicine.
At the age of twenty-one, Rizal sailed for Spain to continue his studies. Ravenous for
knowledge and experience, Rizal traveled Europe, mastered several languages and made
friends with young liberals and progressives, most of them expatriate Filipinos like
himself.
His first taste of free speech and free ideas was exhilarating for Rizal whose own family
had experienced grave injustices under the oppressive Spanish colonial authorities in the
Philippines.
He became an impassioned critic of Spanish colonialism and friar clerical supremacy and in
league with other enlightened liberals and activists in Europe, Rizal directed his
literary outpourings to the cause of the Propaganda Movement seeking peaceful
rectification of the feudal conditions in the Philippines through reforms.
He wrote two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo which kindled nationalistic
fervor in many of his countrymen. The Katipunan, a secret society formed and led by a
local firebrand, Andres Bonifacio sprung from Rizal's moving exposes on the national
condition. But unlike the pacifist Rizal who advocated reform, Bonifacio agitated for
armed revolution.
When publication of Rizal's books led to the harassment and persecution of his family and
relatives, he decided to return to the Philippines.
Upon his arrival in 1892, Rizal was promptly arrested and thrown into Fort Santiago. He
was exiled to Dapitan where lived for four years. Even in exile, Rizal lived a useful and
fulfilled life. He opened a community school, engaged in farming, fishing and trading,
wrote a Tagalog grammar, built the town's water system, and classified and collected
specimens of flora and fauna, while he continued his medical practice. Rizal also built a
home for himself and his future wife, Josephine Bracken, who kept him company during his
exile up to his death.
In 1896, Rizal volunteered for medical service in Cuba. He was on a ship enroute to Spain
when the Katipunan was discovered and the revolution broke out. Rizal was placed under
arrest, returned to the Philippines and incarcerated. He was tried on charges of treason
and complicity in the revolution. He was sentenced by a military court to die before a
firing squad in Bagumbayan Field. On the eve of his execution, he wrote his famous poem Mi
Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell) dedicated to his family, the Filipino people and his
country.
On the early morning of December 30, 1896, Dr. Jose Rizal was shot in what is now known as
the Luneta or Rizal Park in Manila.
It is undeniable, that the fire and fervor of Dr. Rizal really is from being from Calamba
and being an Alonzo.
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