CHAPTER 1

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD

REPUBLIC ACT 1425

Republic Act No. 1425, known as the Rizal Law, mandates all educational
institutions in the Philippines to offer courses about José Rizal. The full name of the law is
An Act to Include in the Curricula of All Public and Private Schools, Colleges and
Universities Courses On the Life, Works and Writings of Jose Rizal, Particularly His Novels
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Authorizing the Printing and Distribution Thereof,
and for Other Purposes. The Rizal law, in any case, was emphatically restricted by the
Christian church much appreciated to the anti-clerical subjects that were pertinent in Rizal’s
books Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

SALIENT FEATURES

1. The basic texts to be included in the curricula aside from his life and works are his
two great novels, the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo;

2. All academic institutions shall keep an adequate number of both original and
unexpurgated editions of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as well as of Rizal’s
other works and biography;
 3. Translation of Rizal’s writings and other works shall be free of charge and be made
available to all.

READING! Read the link posted on module. Is the Rizal Law effective?

BIRTH OF JOSE RIZAL AND FAMILY

José Rizal was born in 1861 to Francisco Rizal Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora
Alonso Realonda y Quintos in the town of Calamba in Laguna province. He had nine sisters
and one brother. His parents were leaseholders of a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm
by the Dominicans. Both their families had adopted the additional surnames of Rizal and
Realonda in 1849, after Governor General Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed the adoption of
Spanish surnames among the Filipinos for census purposes (though they already had Spanish
names).

Above. Jose Rizal’s baptismal certificate.

Like many families in the Philippines, the Rizals were of mixed mestizo origin.
José's patrilineal lineage could be traced back to Fujian in China through his father's ancestor
Lam-Co, a Hokkien Chinese merchant who immigrated to the Philippines in the late 17th
century. Lam-Co traveled to Manila from Xiamen, China, possibly to avoid the famine or
plague in his home district, and more probably to escape the Manchu invasion during the
Transition from Ming to Qing. He finally decided to stay in the islands as a farmer. In 1697,
to escape the bitter anti-Chinese prejudice that existed in the Philippines, he converted to
Catholicism, changed his name to Domingo Mercado and married the daughter of Chinese
friend Augustin Chin-co. On his mother's side, Rizal's ancestry included Chinese, Japanese
and Tagalog blood. His mother's lineage can be traced to the affluent Florentina family of
Chinese mestizo families originating in Baliuag, Bulacan. He also had Spanish ancestry.
Regina Ochoa, a grandmother of his mother, Teodora, had mixed Spanish, Chinese and
Tagalog blood. His grandfather was a half Spaniard engineer named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo.

From an early age, José showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet
from his mother at 3, and could read and write at age 5. Upon enrolling at the Ateneo
Municipal de Manila, he dropped the last three names that made up his full name, on the
advice of his brother, Paciano and the Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José
Protasio Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid much attention [to our second
surname Rizal], 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 Filipino priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and
Jacinto Zamora (popularly known as Gomburza) who had been accused and executed for
treason.

Above. Rizal’s house in Calamba, Laguna.