RIZAL, Dr. Jose P.

Jose Protacio Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna on June 19, 1861, to Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonzo.

With his mother as his first teacher, he began his early education at home and continued it in Biñan, Laguna. He finished Bachiler en Artes at the Ateneo de Manila on March 23, 1877. He studied medicine at the University of Santo Tomas and finished it at the Universidad Central de Madrid along with a degree in Philosophy and Letters.

Rizal's two novels, the Noli Me Tangere and the El Filibusterismo, made him a marked man for the Spanish authorities. These books exposed the cruelties of the Spanish friars in the Philippines, the defects of the Spanish administration, and the vices of the clergy.

On June 26, 1892, Rizal organized the La Liga Filipina aimed at uniting the Filipinos and to promote progress through commerce, industry and agriculture.

On July 6, 1892, he was imprisoned in Fort Santiago. On July 14, he was exiled to Dapitan where he stayed for four years treating the sick and guiding the people in opening a school.

Rizal was on his way to Cuba to serve as a volunteer surgeon when he was arrested and sent back to the Philippines. Again, he was imprisoned in Fort Santiago.

On December 26, 1896, after a mock trial, Rizal was sentenced to die, allegedly for spreading the ideals of the revolution. He was shot at Bagumbayan, now the Luneta, in Manila on December 30, 1896.