15 Interesting Facts about Rizal:

1. Jose Rizal was born with a big head. [must be the reason why he was so intelligent... he must've
big brain as well...anyways, I think many Pinoys know about this]
2. Most Filipinos think that Rizal died because he was TOTALLY against the Spaniards and that he
wanted FULL freedom from them but the truth is that Rizal only appealed for equal rights. Filipinos
be treated as equal human. Rizal questioned their way of governing and how they abuse Filipinos
[who were used to be called indios].
3. There are rumors that Rizals book entitled El FIlibusterismo was inspired by Alexandre Dumas
novel The Count of Monte Cristo considering that it was actually one of Rizals favorite story. (Some
even say that Rizal plagiarized it which for my opinion, totally unbelievable)
4. Did you know that Jose Rizals favorite dish was carne asada?
5. Rizal could show too much sarcasm because of his love for his country. Why and how? Back in
Dapitan when he received three visitors in his house in Talisay, he offered the woman named Donya
Manuela with Bagoong. The lady ignored the bagoong saying that they do not eat bagoong in their
country because it contains worms. With that, Rizal responded saying that he had been in her
country and people there eat little birds without taking out intestines.
6. His poem Mi Retiro (My Retreat) was written when he was sick and could not work. (Yes, heroes
get sick sometimes)
7. There are rumors that Rizal was a playboy having a lot of girls mentioned in his autobiography
and until now many believe that he really had a lot of girlfriends but the truth is that he only had few
real relationships. The other girls were all just flings. and some were just plain friends.
8. The dam he built in Dapitan was built using burned shells and bricks that were made from the
machine he built. In his letter to his best friend, he said that the dam was built by him and fourteen
young boys(his students)
9. Rizal spent Php500.00 for coconut oil lamps for the streets of Dapitan.
10. Rizal would jokingly pinch his students who couldnt answer correctly.
11. Usual books would mention that Rizal collected frogs, snakes and shells. Aside from that, he
also collected Orchids and butterflies (hmmm he seemed girly at timeslol)
12. Rizals house only cost Php40.00 when he built it (Thats about $0.95 now the only thing you
can buy are nails.)
13. Rizal joined lottery and won one-third of the grand prize Php18,000.00.
14. As a gift for his former professor in Ateneo, Fr. Jose Guerrico who went to Dapitan, Rizal made
him a bust of Fr. Jose Guerrico. The bust won a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition.
15. During his stay in Dapitan, he often tell Captain Carnicero(the town captain) that he didnt want
Spaniards and friars to go. He would say In
Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal may have been sentenced to death by the Spaniards on December 30, 1896
but he also lived in the land of the colonizers around the 1880s.
Rizal, author of the novels Noli Me Tngere and El Filibusterismo as well as a number of poems and essays, had
Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish ancestors.
Born to a wealthy family in Calamba, Laguna on June 19, 1861, Rizal was a polyglot who was conversant in 22
languages.

According to the document Rizals Madrid produced by the Philippine Embassy in Spain, Rizal first arrived in Madrid
in 1882 to study medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid.
The website of the Jose Rizal University said Rizal left the Philippines for the first time on May 3, 1882 and headed
towards Spain using a passport under the name Jose Mercado, obtained for him by his uncle Antonio Rivera, father
of Leonor Rivera. He travelled across Europe, including France and Germany, until 1886.
Based on Rizals Madrid, some of the little-known facts about Rizals life in Spain include:
1. Rizal had a limited allowance of P50 a month when he was studying in Madrid. This was further reduced to P35 a
month when their family farm in Laguna had bad harvests.
2. Rizal first lived at the Amor de Rios house close to the Universidad Central de Madrid.
3. Rizal liked to take light meals with wine at the Viva Madrid restaurant, also a favorite of
journalist and revolutionary Graciano Lopez Jaena.
4. While studying medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid, he also went to the nearby Escuela de Bellas Artes
de San Fernando to study painting.
5. Rizals favorite park in Spain is the Parque del Buen Retiro which inspired him to name his place of exile in
Dapitan, Zamboanga as Mi Retiro.
6. Rizal attended theatrical presentations, music and poetry recitals and book launchings at the Ateneo de Madrid,
which is not an educational institution but an exclusive mens club.
7. There were times when Rizal was in dire financial difficulties in Spain. Once, he had to pawn his sister Saturninas
ring to pay for his exams. At another time, he did not at all for one whole day. However, in his letters to his family, he
only mentioned his high grades and victories in contests.
8. Rizal and the other Filipino propagandists lobbied at the Congreso de los Diputados (the Spanish congress) for the
recognition of the Filipinos right to autonomy and for equal rights with Spanish citizens.
9. A marker stands along the corridor of the Colegio de Medicina in Madrid indicating Rizal studied medicine there
from October 2, 1882 until June 1884.
10. In an undated letter to his family, Rizal indicated that his last place of residence in Spain was the Casa
Cedaceros. He told his family that he planned to study ophthalmology in Germany because the eyesight of his mother
Teodora Alonso had gotten worse and he wanted to treat her when he returned to the Philippines. JDS, GMA
News

What is the complete legal name of Dr. Jose Rizal?

Jos Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda. Jose and Protacio are his baptismal names,
Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda is his family's quadruple surname.
What was the date of birth of Dr. Jose Rizal?
June 19, 1861. It was on a moonlit night, between eleven and twelve, that Rizal was born.
What is the Spanish name for a Filipino native, which the Filipinos resented?
Indio. Spanish mestizos hatefully call Filipinos 'Indios Chonggo!'
Name Rizal's host at Wilhelmsfeld.
Karl Ulmer. Karl Ulmer helped Dr. Rizal brush up his German language upon knowing that Rizal
was having difficulty communicating himself.

At 16, Rizal experienced his first romance. He fell in love with which girl?
Segunda Katigbak. It was on a Sunday when Rizal, together with his friend Mariano Katigbak
visited his maternal grandmother in Trozo, Manila that he came upon the most attractive girl--Segunda Katigbak. Segunda was the sister of his friend, Mariano.
Who is the older brother of Dr. Jose Rizal?
Paciano Mercado. Not only was Paciano an older brother of Jose Rizal but he was also more like
a father of Rizal.
"Noli me tangere" is a Latin phrase which Rizal used as the title of one of his two novels. What
does it mean?
Touch me not. "Noli mi tangere" was first published in Germany in 1887.
He was an Austrian and he became the best friend of Dr. Jose Rizal. Who was he?
Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt.
Governor General Terrero assigned a bodyguard to Rizal. And between them, a wonderful
friendship blossomed. Who was this bodyguard?
Lt. Jose Taviel de Andrade.
What is the real name of O-Sei-San?
Seiko Usui. Seiko Usui is a Japanese girl whom Rizal fell in love with. Jose Rizal affectionately
call her O-Sei-San.

1. Ano ang kompletong pangalan ni Dr. Jose P. Rizal?

Jos Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
2. Ang Noli mi tangere ay salitang latin at ginamit ni Rizal bilang pamagat sa kanyang
pangalawang aklat, Ano ang ibig sabihin ng Noli me tangere?
Touch me Not
st

3. Sa edad ni Rizal na 16 unang nalasap ni Rizal ang tamis ng pag ibig. Sino ang 1 love ni
Rizal?
Segunda Katigbak
4. Sino ang nakakatandang kapatid na lalaki ni Dr, Jose P, Rizal?
Paciano Mercado
5. Ayon sa mga manunulat at historyador ano ang paboritong ulam ni Dr, Jose P, Rizal?
Carne Azada
6. Ano ano mga hayop ang ipinangalan kay Rizal bilang pag pugay at respeto sa kanya?
Toad Rhacopourus Rizali
Beetles Apogonia RIzali
Flying lizards/Draco Rizali

7. Ano ang paboritong prutas ang kainin ni Rizal habang siya ay ipinatapon sa Dapitan?
Mangga at lanzones

So you think you already know about our National Hero, Jose Rizal, quite
well? There may be things that arent mentioned in our school lessons,
including rumors, speculations and other small details about his life. As today
is Rizal Day (Dec. 30th), here are some mind-boggling and interesting things
about Pepe:
1. Due to having short-stature for his age,he was a victim of bullying during his childhood
school days, in which he answered with wrestling techniques he learned from his Uncle
Miguel.
2. Among his other talents include pistol shooting, cartography and fencing.
3. Despite being part-Chinese, he had troubles with Chinese merchants during 1895 and
1896, in two separate incidents, which stopped his desire to ever buy anything Chineserelated.
4. Species of animals named after him are: Rachophorous Rizali (toad species) Draco
Rizali(flying dragon/lizard) and Apogonia Rizali (beetle species).

5. One of his lovers, Suzanne from Belgium, called him a little bad boy. This is selfexplanatory, considering how many women hes dated in his life.
6. He won the lottery once, with the winning ticket 9736, during his Dapitan exile. The
prize money: Php 6,200, which was already considerably a large amount back then (in
some sources it was Php 18,000).
7. A religious sect called the Rizalistas believe that the National Hero is a Godsent being.
8. Before his execution, a Spanish surgeon checked his pulse and it read
normal, which is uncommon for a person about to face death. Goes to show how prepared
he is for our country.
9. His first patient as a doctor in his homeland is his sister, Olimpia, who was pregnant
but subsequently died of miscarriage, along with the offspring.
10. He actually lifted, probably around his time in Dapitan, as improvised cement barbells
were discovered there. It was also most likely to cover up for his short stature, much like his
wrestling skills.
11. He formed a mini-school during his Dapitan exile with 21 tuition-free students who
all do community service as a price.
12. Guillermo Tolentino, a Rizal historian, allegedly made spiritual contact with the
National Hero, and according to him, Rizal did not like how Filipinos have abandoned their
native tongue, as referenced by his earlier quote: Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika,
daig pa ang hayop at malansang isda. (He who does not love his own language is worse
than an animal and smelly fish). This is quite the irony, as Rizal knows and speaks more
than 20 languages throughout his life.
13. His favorite stuff to eat: mangoes, lanzones and pancit. He also didnt drink
wine and had to settle for beer during his European travels.

14. On one of his journal entries dating January 1, 1883, he had a nightmare, two nights
prior to that day, that he almost died, which is a possible nod/prediction to his
execution day 13 years later, on the same exact day (note that it was two nights earlier,
making it exactly Dec. 30th).
15. Little known fact of the El Filibusterismo novel is that it could have been based from
Alexandre Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo, which has a relatively similar plot and
character stereotypes. This is strengthened by the fact that the aforementioned Dumas
workwas one of Rizals favorite stories of all time.