Timeline of Dr.

Jose Rizal
He was born as Jose Rizal Mercado
y Alonso Realonda,one of the 11
children of Francisco Engracio Rizal
Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora
Morales Alonso y Quinto.
 He enrolled at Ateneo de
Municipal de Manila and
graduated with a degree in Land
Surveying and Assessment in 1877.
He had a deep interest in arts and
thus he went to the Faculty of Arts
and Letters for degree in
Philosophy at the University of
Santo Tomas.
His mother was becoming blind
during this time and the young
man selected to specialize in
ophthalmology in order to help
her. He enrolled at the Faculty of
Medical Sciences at University of
Santo Tomas in 1878 for this
purpose.
 He went to Spain to continue his
studies and enrolled at Universidad
Central de Madrid from where he
earned his degree in medicine in
1884. He completed another
degree in Philosophy and Letters
from the same institute the next
year.
 He had a greedy desire for
knowledge and went to France to
further his knowledge of
ophthalmology at the University of
Heidelberg. He completed his eye
specialization in 1887 under the
guidance of the famous professor
Otto Becker.
 In 1887, while studying medicine in
the Universidad Central de Madrid,
he wrote the novel ‘Noli Me Tangere’.
He bitterly criticized the Spanish
colonial rule in Philippines and wrote
of the injustices and brutalities
suffered by the native people. His
novel was banned by the government
due to its sarcastic contents.
 He had been exposed to the
challenging life under the Spanish
government and was aware of the
difficulties experienced by the
reform movement of Filipino
students in Spain and wrote
several articles and essays in the
Spanish newspaper ‘La
Solidaridad’.
 He believed that Philippines was
stress with the twin problems of
corrupt friars and bad government.
Ideas of progressive ideals,
peaceful reforms, individual rights
and rights for the Filipino people
formed the foundation of his
writings.
The main focus of the reforms he
advocated were freedom of
assembly and speech,
representation in the legislature,
equal rights before the law for
both Filipinos and Spanish.
 In 1891, his second novel ‘El
Filibusterismo’ was published as a
sequel to his first novel. The novel
dealt with dark and violent themes
that were considerably different
from the theme of its ancestor.
The novel profoundly impacted the
Philippine society’s views about
national identity and was banned
in some parts of the country for its
representationof the Spanish
government’s corruption.
He returned to philippines in 1892
as he felt he needed to be in the
country to effectively bring about
reforms. He formed a civic
movement called La Liga Filipina
which campaigned for social
reforms through peaceful and legal
means.
By the early 1890s the government
had branded Rizal an enemy of the
State in spite of the fact that he
advocated peaceful reforms. The
authorities were angry with his
novels and writings which had
exposed the corruption of the
Spanish Colonial government. He
was exiled to Dapitan in July 1892.
In Dapitan he continued his reform
work by building a school for young
boys, a hospital and a water supply
system. He also taught farming and
worked on agriculture projects
using abaca.
In 1895, Cuba was engulfed by an
epidemic of yellow fever and Rizal
volunteered to serve as an army
doctor. His request was accepted
by the Governor-General Ramon
Blanco.
 By August 1896, a secret society
Katipunan started a violent
revolution. Even through Rizal was
in no way associted with the
revolution he was arrested enroute
to Cuba.
He was sent back to Manila where
he was tried for rebellion, sedition
and conspiracy and convicted of all
these charges.
 December 30, 1896
6:00 AM begin Death March
7:03 Am Death by firing squad.