Dr. Jose P. Rizal, was born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna. His advocacy for reforms in the Philippines under the hands of Spanish colonial authorities led to his early death at the age of 36. He was executed in Bagumbayan, now called Luneta, in Manila on December 30, 1896.

But his death meant much more for the Filipinos. It sparked the revolution in the country against the Spanish government, which ruled Las Islas Filipinas (now the Philippines) from 1565 to 1898. Rizal inspired the nation to be born.

Dr. José Rizal was executed by firing squad by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion, on Dec. 30, 1896, at Bagumbayan Field in Manila. His 14-stanza poem in Spanish, hitherto only known by its opening verse, “Adios Patria Adorada” (“Farewell Beloved Country”) later titled “Mi último adiós” (“Last Farewell”) was hidden in his gas lamp in his prison cell, and transferred among his personal belongings to his family after his death. He wrote to his best friend and confidant, professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, “Tomorrow at seven, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience” (from Teodoro Kalaw, Epistolario Rizalino).

Not for active rebellion, for Rizal was not actually aligned with the Katipunan of Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo in those days of the Revolution. He was one of the leaders of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain, where he was a prolific contributor to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona (under changing pen names of “Dimasalang,” “Laong Laan,” and “May Pagasa”). His writings focused on liberal and progressive ideas of individual rights and freedom, specifically, rights for the Filipino people. His two best known novels were Noli Me Tangere (Touch me not, 1887) that criticized the Spanish political governance and the clergy, and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed, 1891) that described the “social cancer” that colonization wrought.