GE 112: THE LIFE

& WORKS OF
RIZAL

Name: Patricia Mae C. Danieles BSED

FIRST SEMESTER 2021-2022
ENGLISH-II
Couse Facilitator: Mr. Raymond Silvestre
EdD.

1. What is importance of Rizal as a compulsory subject in curricula of all

schools, colleges and universities? (Do you think that Rizal is still relevant to
the present times? Why/or why not?)
 It is truly important to study the life and works of Jose Rizal not only because
it is mandatory or required of any course, college or university but because of its
lesson contained by his piece of writing and life experiences as well as to
recognize and appreciate his heroine act for the Philippines. He chose to fight for
his beloved country by using his knowledge and power of letters because he
doesn’t want to witness the harassment, maltreatment and injustice of Spaniards
and to be an independent country.

It is important also to pay tribute to our national hero for devoting his life and
works in shaping the Filipino character in that way we can deeply appreciate how
lucky we are for enjoying the country that they fight for in order for us to get away
from the hands of the Spaniards and to be an independent country.

As well as, To show the young ones or youth the importance of Freedom,
Patriotism and Nationalism.

Furthermore, based on the content module 1, It was specifically emphasized

the importance of three main goals of Rizal Law which includes; To rededicate the
lives of the youth to the ideals of freedom and nationalism, for which heroes lived
and died, To pay tribute to our national hero for devoting his life and works in
shaping the Filipino character, To gain inspiring source of patriotism through the
study of Rizal’s life, works, and writings.

Do you think that Rizal is still relevant to the present times? Why/or why not?

Yes, because Jose Rizal’s contribution made an impact in our country. It is

very notable and his act was not overlooked. His contribution was inspirational to
others to become a great hero without doing or making any grave act that tend to
produce an effect to the external world or to the individual persons. He is good
model to us to be a good citizen for the reason that he did everything especially in
hard situation. He can lead and manage his troops or members. When Rizal was
alive, his troops had a camaraderie and unity that’s why he still relevant to the
present times. He woke up every Filipino people in the reality that we need to fight
our rights and not to be a depending country. We can apply or adopt in the present
time the contribution and leadership of Jose Rizal. We can be a hero by means of
loving, standing, and protecting our country.
Student’s Learning Activity:

Directions: Having read and analyzed the contents of Module 2, choose only two
out of three (3) and write a Reflection Paper.

1. The teachers that made a primary contribution to Rizal’s choice of

education and character formation

2. The role of Jose Rizal’s family in the development of his thought and
character.

As what I‘ve learned, There is a wow-factor on how lucky the young Jose
Rizal is. He was so blessed and fortunate child where he belongs in a privilege
family that has a great contribution on shaping his great capacity and from the fact
that, at his young age, It was very noticeable that he is an extraordinary child.

The first teacher of Rizal was his mother namely Doňa Teodora Alonzo which
serve as her tutor. By her guidance and patience on teaching his son, Jose Rizal
pleasantly learned the alphabet and prayers at the age of three. His mother had
taught him how to read and pray and who had encouraged him to write poetry. She
also related many stories to lighten the monotony of memorizing the ABC’s and to
stimulate her son’s imagination including, El Amigo De Los Ninos o Ang kaibigan
ng mga Bata and The Moth story.

As Jose grew older, his parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at
home. The first was Maestro Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua.
Later, an old man named Leon Monroy, a former classmate of Rizal’s father,
became the boy’s tutor. This old teacher lived at the Rizal home and instructed
Jose in Spanish and Latin. Unfortunately, he did not live long. He died five months
later. After a Monroy’s death, the hero’s parents decided to send their gifted son to
a private school in Biñan.

Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan. It was a typical
schooling that a son of an ilustrado family received during his time, characterized
by the four R’s- reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Instruction was rigid and
strict. Knowledge was forced into the minds of the pupils by means of the tedious
memory method aided by the teacher’s whip. Despite the defects of the Spanish
system of elementary education, Rizal was able to acquire the necessary instruction
preparatory for college work in Manila. It may be said that Rizal, who was born a
physical weakling, rose to become an intellectual giant not because of, but rather in
spite of, the outmoded and backward system of instruction obtaining in the
Philippines during the last decades of Spanish regime.

Also, Rizal had three uncles(brothers of his mother) who played a good
influence in his early life. 1 Tio Gregorio was a scholar and lover of books. He
encouraged Rizal to read good books and think for himself.

I also want to add his Tio Manuel who is big and strong man. He aroused Rizal's
interest in sports. Thus Rizal learned swimming, rowing, fencing, and wrestling.

Tio Jose (the youngest brother of "donya" Teodora.) He was educated in an

English college of Calcutta, India. He inspired Rizal to paint, sketch, and make
statutes of clay.

Indeed, From all of who had the greatest influence on Rizal’s development who
unlocked his desire and passion to the world around him—with all its soul and
poetry, as well as its bigotry and injustice. Doña Teodora was Rizal’s first teacher
and she was the person who encouraged him to fight for his ideals and never give
up.

Student’s Learning Activity:

Directions: Having read and analyzed the contents of Module 2, choose only two
out of three (3) and write a Reflection Paper.

1. The teachers that made a primary contribution to Rizal’s choice of

education and character formation

2. The role of Jose Rizal’s family in the development of his thought and
character.
 Not known to many, ‘Jose Rizal siblings’ contributed much to his
development, personality and to the success of his endeavors.

Aside from my additional learning’s, The Mercado family was wealthy

farmers who rented land from the Dominican religious order. Descendants of a
Chinese immigrant named Domingo Lam-co, they changed their name to Mercado
(“market”) under the pressure of anti-Chinese feeling amongst the Spanish
colonizers.

Dr. Jose Rizal from his humble origin to his studies at his native land Laguna
is a boy of creativity, passion for knowledge, education, and religion.

From an early age, Jose Rizal Mercado showed a precocious intellect. He

learned the alphabet from his mother; at 5, while learning to read and write, he
already showed inclinations to be an artist. He astounded his family and relatives
by his pencil drawings and sketches and by his moldings of clay.

As the young Rizal’s first teacher, she had a profound influence on his
development and was his inspiration in taking up medicine. Teodora was the
second child of Lorenzo Alonso and Brijida de Quintos. As the mother of a
perceived enemy of the Spanish authorities, Teodora was often persecuted.

Aside from his mother, his sister Saturnina and three maternal uncles also
mentored him. The greatest influence on Rizal’s development as a person was his
mother Teodora Alonso. She helped him in understand the world with his soul and
poetry. Saturnina Rizal ) is the eldest child of Don Francisco and Teodora
Alonso. She and her mother provided the little Jose with good basic education that
by the age of three, Pepe (Jose’s nickname) already knew his alphabet. Saturnina
had always been a loving ‘Ate’ Neneng to Jose. When their mother was
imprisoned, Saturnina brought the young Jose to Tanauan during the summer
vacation of 1873 just to cheer up the sad little brother.

On his way to Marseilles in May 1882, Jose Rizal—perhaps missing her

‘ate’—dreamed that he was traveling with Neneng. (Continue reading about her
and her great influence to Jose Rizal as she is SATURNINA RIZAL: The Hero’s
Second Mother)
 Paciano was a huge influence to Rizal’s life. He would constantly send money
to Spain and update his younger brother of the friars’ abuses in the Philippines
through letters. He also supported the Katipunan and later on became one of the
generals of its Revolutionary Army. The 10-year older brother of Jose studied at
San Jose College in Manila, became a farmer, and later a general of the Philippine
Revolution. As I call him, Paciano Rizal: Pinoy Hero’s Big Brother
After Jose Rizal’s execution in December 1896, his ‘kuya’ Paciano joined the
Katipuneros in Cavite under General Emilio Aguinaldo. As Katipunero, Paciano
was commissioned as general of the revolutionary forces and elected as secretary
of finance in the Department Government of Central Luzon. (For Jose and
Paciano’s collaboration and connection to Emilio Aguinaldo, read: Jose Rizal and
Emilio Aguinaldo Connection

Narcisa Rizal was the third child in the family. Later in history, Narcisa (like
Saturnina) would help in financing Jose Rizal’s studies in Europe, even pawning
her jewelry and peddling her clothes if needed.
It was said she could recite from memory almost all of the poems of our national
hero. Her influence may be called, The Hospitable Sister of the Hero.

Olympia Rizal is the fourth child in the Rizal family.

Jose loved to tease her, sometimes good-humoredly describing her as his stout
sister. Jose’s first love, Segunda Katigbak, was Olympia’s schoolmate at the La
Concordia College. Rizal confided to Olympia (also spelled ‘Olimpia’) about
Segunda, and the sister willingly served as the mediator between the two teenage
lovers. For Jose Rizal-and-Segunda Katigbak’s love story, read: The Colorful Love
Affairs of Dr. Jose Rizal. For Olympia Rizal’s influence to Jose Rizal, as she is
the , OLYMPIA RIZAL: The Sister Whom the Hero Loves to Tease

Lucia Rizal is the fifth child in the family. She married Mariano Herbosa of
Calamba, Laguna. Charged of inciting the Calamba townsfolk not to pay land rent
and causing unrest, the couple was once ordered to be deported along with some
Rizal family members. Lucia’s husband died during the cholera epidemic in May
1889 and was refused a Catholic burial for not going to confession since his
marriage to Lucia. In Jose Rizal’s article in La Solidaridad entitled Una
profanacion (A Profanation), he scornfully attacked the friars for declining to bury
in ‘sacred ground’ a ‘good Christian’ simply because he was the “brother-in-law of
Rizal”.
 Maria Rizal is the sixth child in the family. It was to her whom Jose talked
about wanting to marry Josephine Bracken when the majority of the Rizal family
was apparently not amenable to the idea. In his letter dated December 28, 1891,
Jose Rizal wrote to her sister Maria, “I’m told that your children are very pretty.”
Today, we have a historical proof that Maria’s progenies were indeed nice-looking
(‘lahing maganda’). Maria and her husband, Daniel Faustino Cruz had five
children: Mauricio, Petrona, Prudencio, Paz, and Encarnacion. Their son Mauricio
married Conception Arguelles, and the couple had a son named Ismael Arguelles
Cruz. Ismael was the father of Gemma Cruz Araneta, the first Filipina to win the
Miss International title, also the first Southeast Asian to win in an international
beauty pageant title. MARIA RIZAL: The Hero’s Confidant.

Concepcion Rizal Also called ‘Concha’ by her siblings, Concepcion Rizal was the
eight child of the Rizal family. She died at the age of three.
Of his sisters, it was said that the young Pepe loved most little Concha who was a
year younger than him. Jose played games and shared children stories with her, and
from her he felt the beauty of sisterly love at young age. CONCEPCION RIZAL:
The Hero’s First Grief
Josefa Rizal’s nickname is Panggoy She’s the ninth child in the family.
Panggoy died a spinster. Among Jose Rizal’s letters to Josefa, the one dated
October 26, 1893 is perhaps the most fascinating. Written in English, the letter
addressed Josefa as “Miss Josephine Rizal.” After Jose’s martyrdom, the epileptic
Josefa joined the Katipunan and was even said to have been elected the president
of its women section. She was one of the original 29 women admitted to the
Katipunan along with Gregoria de Jesus, wife of Andres Bonifacio.
They safeguarded the secret papers and documents of the society and danced and
sang during sessions so that civil guards would think that the meetings were just
harmless social gatherings. JOSEFA RIZAL: The Katipunera

Trinidad Rizal or ‘Trining’ was the tenth child. Historically, she became the
custodian of Rizal’s last and greatest poem.
Right before Jose’s execution, Trinidad and their mother visited him in the Fort
Santiago prison cell. As they were leaving, Jose handed over to Trining an alcohol
cooking stove, a gift from the Pardo de Taveras, whispering to her in a language
which the guards could not understand, “There is something in it.”
That ‘something’ was Rizal’s elegy now known as “Mi Ultimo Adios.” Like
Josefa, Paciano, and two nieces, Trinidad joined the Katipunan after Jose’s death.
(TRINIDAD RIZAL: The Custodian of the Hero’s Greatest Poem)
 Soledad Rizal Also called ‘Choleng,’ Soledad Rizal was the youngest child of
the Rizal family. Being a teacher, she was arguably the best educated among
Rizal’s sisters.
In his long and meaty letter to Choleng dated June 6, 1890, Jose Rizal told her
sister that he was proud of her for becoming a teacher. He thus counseled her to be
a model of virtues and good qualities “for the one who should teach should be
better than the persons who need her learning. Rizal nonetheless used the topic as
leverage in somewhat rebuking her sister for getting married to Pantaleon Quintero
of Calamba without their parents’ consent. “Because of you,” he wrote, “the peace
of our family has been disturbed.” Choleng’s union with Pantaleon, nonetheless
resulted in Rizal family’s becoming connected by affinity to Miguel Malvar, the
hero who could have been listed as the second Philippine President for taking over
the revolutionary government after Emilio Aguinaldo’s arrest in 1901. As she is,
SOLEDAD RIZAL: The Hero’s Controversial Sister

The Rizal family lived in harmoniously and it’s nice to visualize how they had
a simple, contented and happy life that are capable of sending their children in
colleges. Rizal’s childhood memories hone his capability and with his sibling
especially his parents love, care and support that influence him him to be religious
man and mastered of anything was a big part in the development of Rizal’s thought
and character.

References::

https://myinfobasket.com/jose-rizal-siblings-jose-rizal-brother-and-sisters/