Trizia Mae S.

Magallano BSCE – 3B

Lesson 2

1. Jose Rizal was exposed to the world even at a young age. It was said that in his childhood, he
already empathized the situation of the people, foremost fellow Filipinos, as they struggle
through living under the hands of the Spaniards. Because of the colonizer’s misdeeds and
abuses, he grieved deeply for the country, that this awakened his heart to fight against their
tyrannical rule and to fight for the oppressed people. With his adept sympathy for the state of
our motherland and adequate skills over a number of things, he was able to articulate well his
feelings and ideas into the poem, in order to deliver a significant message to his fellowmen,
especially people as young as he is, that the love of our country should run deep within each
one of us starting with embracing our Filipino language.

2. Jose Protacio Rizal-Mercado Alonso Realonda – this is the full name of our national hero. Better
known as Jose, he actually has two first names which is Jose Protacio, in honor of two saints,
Jose from Saint Joseph and Protacio from Saint Protacio, the patron saint of June 19, the
birthdate of Rizal. Rizal Mercado are the paternal surnames of Rizal. In which, his paternal great
great grandfather, a Chinese merchant, Domingo Lamco, adopted. The surname Mercado
translates to market in English. However, Jose Rizal’s father, primarily a farmer, adopted the
surname Rizal, which was originally Ricial, meaning the green of young growth or green fields. It
was suggested by an alcalde mayor who was a family friend. Later on, the new surname Rizal
caused a buzz in the commercial affairs of the family. Upon this, Don Franciso compromised and
settled for the combination of the two, Rizal Mercado, to be used by the family. Though
compromising of two merged surnames, Paciano, Jose’s older brother, and his family commonly
used Mercado. Paciano was then put in an infamous light due to his linkage to the GomBurZa
priests, thus, he suggested that Jose use the lesser known surname they had. Alonso Realonda
are the maternal surnames of Jose Rizal. Dona Teodora, his mother, was believed to come from
Lakandula, the last native king of Tondo. Her great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua, of Japanese
descent, who married a Filipina named Benigna. Regina, their daughter, married a Filipino-
Chinese lawyer of Pangasinan, which is Manuel de Quintos. Lorenzo Alberto Alonso, a well-off
Spanish-Filipino mestizo of Binan, then married the daughter of Regina and Manuel, which is
Brigida Quintos. Lorenzo and Brigida had five children, where the second of them was Jose
Rizal’s mother, Teodora Alonso Quintos. Through the Claveria decree of 1849, the Filipino native
surnames were changed. The Alonsos adopted the surname Realonda, in honor of Quintos.
Rizal’s mother became Teodora Alonso Realonda, thus explaining where he inherited his
maternal surname from.