Early life

Paciano Rizal was born to Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro (1818–1897) and Teodora
Morales Alonso y Quintos (1827–1911; whose family later changed their surname to "Realonda"), as the
second of eleven children born to a wealthy family in the town of Calamba, Laguna.

He grew up witnessing the abuses of the clergy and the Spanish colonial government. As a young
student, together with Felipe Buencamino and Gregorio Sancianco, Paciano was a founding member of
La Juventud Liberal, a reformist student organization that worked under the direction of the Comite de
Reformadores, among whose leaders was Padre José Burgos. Among their tasks was to secretly
distribute copies of the reformist paper, El Eco Filipino, while pretending to be purveyors of horse
fodder (zacateros).

Burgos, who was Paciano's friend and teacher, was later implicated in the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 and
summarily executed.[1]

Revolutionary

Paciano joined and actively supported Propaganda Movement for social reforms, and supported the
Movement's newspaper, Diariong Tagalog. An avid supporter of the movement, he did tasks such as
collecting funds to finance the said organization, and solicited money for the nationalist paper.

In January 1897, after his younger brother's execution, Paciano joined General Emilio Aguinaldo in
Cavite. He was appointed brigadier general of the revolutionary forces, and was elected Secretary of
Finance in the Departmental Government of Central Luzon.[1]

During the Philippine–American War (1899–1913), he commanded the Filipino forces in Laguna. U.S.
troops captured him in Laguna on 1900.[1] He was released soon after, and he settled in the town of Los
Baños, Laguna.

Death

He lived a quiet life as a gentleman farmer, and died on April 13, 1930 at the age of 79 of tuberculosis.
[1][2]