José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realondo (b. 19 June 1861, Calamba, Laguna, Philippines – d. 30 December 1896, Manila, Philippines), known as José Rizal, was a doctor, intellectual and patriot who helped to inspire the uprising of 1896-1898 which ended over 200 years of Spanish rule. Rizal visited Singapore four times and passed through again shortly before his execution made him a national hero.
Life and accomplishments
Education
Rizal was partly educated at home before entering Ateneo de Manila. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1877, before going on to study medicine at the University of Santo Tomas in order to save his mother’s eyesight. Despite winning literary prizes he was disillusioned by the faculty’s and Spanish students’ attitudes towards Filipinos. In 1882 he secretly travelled to Madrid to complete his studies and qualified as a licentiate two years later. His first job was with a leading Paris oculist.
Travel, writings and reform activities
In Europe’s freer intellectual atmosphere he debated and discussed his country’s future with fellow expatriates. Rizal travelled extensively, studying in cities like Heidelberg and Leipzig, and learned many languages. He was a talented poet, artist and sculptor with wide interests including science and farming, but it was his writing which had the greatest impact.
While studying in Berlin in 1887 he released Noli me tangere (“Touch me not”, also called The social cancer) satirizing the corruption of Spanish clerics in the Philippines. The book was a sensation before furious church officials in the Philippines had it banned. Rizal returned home that year but the controversy forced him to abandon his new clinic in Calamba and return to Europe via Japan and America. Between 1889 and 1891 he contributed regular articles advocating political, religious and social reform to La Solidaridad, a review published by Filipinos in Barcelona.
In 1889 he annotated and republished Events in the Philippine Islands, a 1609 book describing the achievements of the pre-colonial Philippines. This book debunked the image of Filipinos as backward ingrates and awakened pride in their heritage. Two years later he published in Ghent El Filibisterismo (“The Subversion”), a sequel to Noli dedicated to three Filipino priests executed by the Spanish. He then spent several months practicing medicine in Hong Kong.
His family endured official harassment over his writings and despite warnings he returned home in 1892 with hopes for a Philippine colony in North Borneo and a constitution for La Liga Filipina, a mutual aid association which he founded with other reform-minded patriots. Rizal never espoused independence but advocated a greater role for Filipinos in the church and government, Philippine representation in Spain’s parliament, curbing the friars’ power, cleaner government and the promotion of education.
Conflict with the authorities and martyrdom
Nonetheless, the Spanish exiled Rizal to Dapitan on the pretext of ‘finding’ subversive leaflets in his luggage; without him La Liga became inactive and later split. During his island exile he established a school and clinic but in 1896 received permission to travel to Cuba, which needed doctors to address a yellow fever outbreak. Shortly after he left, the Katipunan, a successor to La Liga whose methods Rizal rejected, launched an insurrection. The government falsely blamed Rizal and ordered his arrest.
He was returned to Manila and charged with rebellion and forming an illegal society. Anonymous witnesses testified to his involvement with the rebels and he was convicted by a military court. Rizal composed a patriotic valedictory poem and was executed in Manila’s Bagumbayan Field on December 30, 1896.
Lasting significance
The struggle continued and in 1898 the first Philippine republic was proclaimed, though annexation by America (which Rizal had foreseen) soon followed and delayed independence until 1946. Nonetheless, Rizal was quickly acclaimed as a national hero and his importance to the Philippine nation is difficult to overstate. Noli remains one of their greatest novels and his achievements helped to demonstrate that Filipinos were the Spaniards’ equals, inspiring greater self-confidence in his countrymen.
Rizal’s advocacy of peaceful reform and resistance to colonialism anticipated similar later movements throughout Asia. His life and work are commemorated with countless memorials worldwide, including a national holiday (first marked just two years after his death) and a province in the Philippines.
Visits to Singapore and memorial
The first of Rizal’s many visits to foreign lands was a two-day stopover in Singapore in 1882. This would be his longest stay in the colony and he toured it by carriage, seeing such sites as the Raffles statue, Botanic Gardens, temples and markets, and even schools. He was impressed by the city’s greenery and Singaporeans’ relationship with their rulers. While Filipinos feared the Spanish, Singaporeans seemed confident in the British and assured of their rights.
He found the city less attractive in 1887 and noted in 1891 how much it had changed. On this visit he discussed Philippine affairs with a local Filipino lawyer whom he subsequently sent copies of his books to sell in Singapore.
In 1896 Filipino friends in Singapore urged Rizal to save himself by remaining there and abandoning his trip to Cuba, but he trusted Spanish guarantees of safe passage and resolved to proceed. On his fateful, final voyage home almost two months later he was kept shackled in his cabin at each stop to prevent escape attempts. While his ship was docked in Singapore supporters, including former newspaper publisher Charles Burton Buckley, unsuccessfully attempted to secure his release at the Supreme Court.
These visits were commemorated by the National Heritage Board in 2005. On the anniversary of Rizal’s birth President Nathan and the Philippine Education Minister unveiled a memorial near the Asian Civilisations Museum, featuring a bronze medallion of Rizal by a Filipino artist.
Family
Of Chinese-Filipino ancestry, he was the seventh of eleven children of landowner Francisco Mercado and Teodoro Alonso. In 1891 he proposed unsuccessfully to Adeline Boustead, whose grandfather founded Boustead and Company of Singapore. Four years later he wed Josephine Bracken in a common-law marriage as the church refused them a wedding. Their premature son Francisco died shortly after birth.
Author
Duncan Sutherland
References
Baratham, D. (1962, February 4). Death of a patriot. The Straits Times, p.4. Retrieved January 22, 2010 from http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/PrintPreview.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19620204.2.18.1
Chew, M (2008). Boustead 1828 (pp.38-39). Singapore: Boustead Singapore Ltd.
(Call no.: RSING 338.76095957 CHE)
Craig, A. (2002, originally published 1914). Lineage, life and labors of José Rizal Philippine patriot (pp.64, 99, 113, 215-16). Manila: Tulay Foundation.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902092 CRA)
Gagelonia, P.A. (1964). Man of the century (pp.84, 163, 347). Manila: Villaneuva Publishing Inc.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902 RIZ.G)
Gagelonia, P.A. (1968). Rizal: Our noble heritage (pp.35-7, 190-91, 213-16). Manila: Cruz Bookstore.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902092 GAG)
José Rizal University (2004). Rizal in Hong Kong. Retrieved December 28, 2009 from http://www.joserizal.ph/tr48.html
Philippine Department of Education (2005). Singapore honors Rizal. Retrieved October 27, 2009 from http://www.deped.gov.ph/cpanel/uploads/issuanceImg/jul10-rizal.pdf
Ocampo, E.A. (1993). Why is Rizal the greatest Filipino hero? (pp.4, 7). Manila: National Historical Institute.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902 DEO)
Quibuyen, F.C. (2008). A nation aborted: Rizal, American hegemony and Philippine nationalism (pp.135-36). Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902 QUI)
Rizal, J. (1961). Reminiscences and travels of José Rizal (v.1, pp.51-56, 130, 179, 200, 211). Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission.
(Call no: RSEA 959.902 RIZ)
Yabes, C. (2002). A journey of friendship: The Philippines – Singapore relationship (pp.16-25). Singapore: Philippines Embassy.
(Call no.: RSING q327.59905957 YAB)
Zaide, G.F. and Zaide, S.M. (1999, originally published 1961). José Rizal: Life, works, writings of a genius, writer, scientist and national hero (pp.54-55, 239-40, 247). Quezon City: All Nations Publishing Inc.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902 ZAI)
Further reading
Arcilla, J.S. (1991). Rizal and the emergence of the Philippine nation. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902 ARC)
de la Costa, H. (1996, originally published 1961). The trial of Rizal: W.E. Retana’s transcription of the official Spanish documents. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.9020924 TRI)
López-Bantug, A. (2008). Lolo José. Quezon City: Vibal Publishing House, Inc.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902092 BAN)
Rajaretnam, M. (1996). José Rizal and the Asian renaissance. Kuala Lumpur: Institut Kajian Dasar.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902 JOS)
Sta Maria, F.P. (1996). In excelsis: The mission of José P. Rizal, humanist and Philippine national hero. Makati City: Studio Five Designs.
(Call no.: RSEA q959.902092 STA)
Publications
Rizal, J. (1997, originally published 1887). Noli me tangere – Touch me not. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
(Call no.: RSEA 893 RIZ)
Rizal, J. (1996, originally published 1891). El Filibisterismo. Makati City: Bookmark.
(Call no.: RSEA 899.21103 RIZ)
Rizal, J. (1990). Rizal’s prose. Manila: National Historical Institute.
(Call no.: RSEA 899.210808 RIZ)
Rizal, J. (1990). Rizal’s poems: 1869-1896. Manila: National Historical Institute.
(Call no.: RSEA 861.2 RIZ)
Rizal, J. (1961). The Rizal-Blumentritt correspondence (2 vols.). Manila: José Rizal National Centennial Commission.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902 RIZ)
Rizal, J. (1963). Miscellaneous correspondence (Vol. 2, book 4). Manila: National Heroes Commission.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902 RIZ)
Rizal, J. (1964). Miscellaneous writings of Dr José Rizal. Manila: National Heroes Commission.
(Call no.: RSEA 868.208 RIZ)
List of Images
Craig, A. (2002, originally published 1914). Lineage, life and labors of José Rizal Philippine patriot (p.36). Manila: Tulay Foundation.
(Call no.: RSEA 959.902092 CRA)
Sta Maria, F.P. (1996). In excelsis: The mission of José P. Rizal, humanist and Philippine national hero (pp.118, 121, 133). Makati City: Studio Five Designs.
(Call no.: RSEA q959.902092 STA)
The information in this article is valid as at 2010 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
