Gov't pays tribute to Rizal on 152nd birth anniv

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 19): Gov't pays tribute to Rizal on 152nd birth anniv

The Aquino government is paying tribute to Dr. Jose Rizal, through the social media, in commemoration of the 152nd birth anniversary of the country's national hero .

"June 19, 2013 is the 152nd birth anniversary of Dr. Jose P. Rizal. Today, the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) pays tribute to his life, works, and achievements through an online commemoration in the Presidential Museum and Library website, and its attached social media accounts in Facebook and Tumblr," PCDSPO Secretary Ramon Carandang said in a statement during the regular briefing in Malacanang on Wednesday.

"We encourage all to participate in this observance by using the hashtag: #Rizal152. This page features the continuation of PCDSPO’s digital colorization project, with three new archival photographs digitally rendered in color," Carandang said.

"Also featured is Rizal’s celebrated toast to the painters Juan Luna and Felix Resurrección Hidalgo, published in the original Spanish and in the English translation, with a recording by Audie Gemora," he said.

Born on June 19, 1861, José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda became the most prominent Filipino nationalist for advocating reforms through peaceful means rather than by violent revolution in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era.

Rizal was the seventh of eleven children and belonged to a wealthy family in the town of Calamba, Laguna. He attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated Bachelor of Arts. He took up medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas.

Rizal traveled alone to Madrid, Spain, where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid and earned the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He also enrolled at the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg.

Aside from being conversant in at least 10 languages, Rizal was a poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist. His most famous works were his two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

As a prominent political figure, Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina in 1892, a civic organization that subsequently led to the organization of the Kataastaasang, Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan led by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo.

Rizal’s execution on December 30, 1896 made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution.

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