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ON a
romantic note, the merry month of June is the month of
weddings. On a somber one, it is also the month when
Mount Pinatubo blew its top, the 20th century’s biggest volcanic
eruption. Historically, it was the month that
Asia’s
first republic was born (June 12). On the same
historical note, not many Filipinos know that it is also
the birth month of Jose Rizal, our National Hero and the
Great Malay, and it was in Calamba City (Laguna) where
he was born.
In 1639
the Chinese citizens of Calamba revolted against the
provincial governor. Formerly part of Cabuyao, Calamba
was made into a separate municipality in 1770. From
1885 to 1891, a land dispute between the tenant farmers
and the Dominican friars ensued. It became a city on
April 7, 2000. The city’s name is derived from the
Tagalog word meaning jar. According to legend, at the
turn of the 16th century, two Spanish soldiers visiting
the town asked a young local girl filling a clay jar
with water what the name of the town was. Frightened and
not knowing any Spanish, the girl answered nervously, “Kalamba...Kalamba...”
(referring to the clay jar) that the Spaniard heard as “Calamba,”
hence the name of the town. At the city plaza, this
story is immortalized in the Calamba Jar, which is
inscribed with the names of the city’s barangays.
Today
this 144.8-square-kilometer market city, on the
lakeshore plain of Laguna de Bay, hosts the
Silangan
Canlubang
Industrial Park,
Carmelray Industrial Park, Science Park II, White Lily
Industrial Park and Laguna International Industrial
Park. It is also known for its hot spring resorts
located in barangay Pansol. The city is also the
birthplace of Gen. Vicente Lim (April 5, 1888), the
first Filipino graduate of United States’ West Point
Academy. During World War II, he commanded the 41st
Division in Bataan and, after its surrender, became a
guerrilla leader. He was captured by the Japanese and
executed at the Chinese Cemetery on January 15, 1945.
The
bahay na bato (stone house) where Rizal was born,
located along the suitably named J.P. Rizal Street
(formerly Calle Real), across the City Hall and beside
the Spanish-era Church of Saint John the Baptist (where
he was baptized; its original baptismal font has been
preserved and refurbished), was the first such house
built in Calamba. It took two years for Don Francisco
Mercado, Rizal’s father and one of the town’s wealthiest
men, to build. Rizal was born here on June 16, 1861,
between
11 pm and 12
midnight, the seventh of 11 children and the younger of
two boys (Paciano, the older brother and a revolutionary
general, was born on March 9, 1851). Jose was the first
in the family to use the new Spanish surname Rizal
(Spanish for “field of green wheat”). In the middle of
its vast yard and under the cool shade of trees, Rizal
would often repair to a small nipa hut built by Don
Francisco for the children to play in and laze their
time away. Here, Rizal would indulge on his favorite
hobbies of sketching and modeling clay, waiting for the
twilight and listening to bird song.
Rizal
lived here until he was nine, when he left home to
pursue his studies in Biñan. Within that short span, he
grew in knowledge and understanding, learning the
alphabet from his mother, Teodora Alonzo, in the kitchen
and his prayers in the room he shared with his brother
Paciano. Rizal would also lose himself among the books
of the civilized world in his father’s extensive
library. Later, a private tutor (a former classmate of
his father) came to live with the family and gave young
Rizal lessons in reading, writing and Latin.
In 1891,
five years before Rizal was executed by firing squad at
Bagumbayan on December 30, 1896, the house was
confiscated by Spanish authorities when the Mercados,
along with other Calamba families who had opposed the
raising of rentals, were driven out of the hacienda.
Much of its original furniture was scattered or lost.
Paciano Rizal reoccupied the house during the
revolution, but lost it again to the friars. It was
subsequently sold for P27,000 to a certain Don Isidro
Cailles, who had it converted into an accesoria
with nine partitions. The house later fell into
disrepair and was finally demolished.
During
the American Era, efforts were made by the Philippine
Legislature to purchase the site and turn it over to the
town on condition that a shrine or monument be built on
it. In December 1928, the lot was bought by the
Philippine Legislature for P24,000, but the plan to have
a monument put up did not push through due to the town’s
protest. In 1936 preliminary research began to gather
data for the reconstruction of the house. Architect Juan
Nakpil offered his services for free. On November 30,
1937 (National Heroes Day), students and faculty from
the University of the Philippines, on pilgrimage to
Calamba, put up a marker on the spot where Rizal was
born.
The plan
to reconstruct the house was abandoned when World War II
broke out. The Japanese held Jose Rizal in high regard,
keeping the site in good condition, appointing a
fulltime caretaker, putting a wooden fence around the
lot and having the old well (the only surviving feature
of the original house) redug. During the liberation, the
Americans used the site as a camp, obliterating whatever
landmarks existed. In 1949 reconstruction began in
earnest. A committee, headed by Nakpil, was formed by
President Elpidio Quirino through Executive Order 145.
Nakpil excavated the site, made a study of the
building’s foundation and, from the evidence, drew up
his plans. Reconstruction began almost immediately, with
funds raised from contributions collected from the
nation’s schoolchildren. Within five years, Rizal’s home
was faithfully and painstakingly reconstructed and the
restored house was inaugurated on June 19, 1950.
Now a
property of the national government and administered by
the National Historical Institute, this reproduction of
the original Spanish Colonial-style, two-story house is
now one of the three shrines dedicated to our national
hero (the others are his prison cell in Fort Santiago in
Manila and his home in exile in Dapitan City in
Zamboanga del Norte, Mindanao). The house has a red tile
roof, thick stone ground-floor walls, doors wide enough
for a carriage to enter, wooden upper walls of narra and
molave, and balustrades and capiz shell windows. The
house contains replicas of Rizal’s antique family
furniture, household articles, library and Rizal
memorabilia. Antique items include a very old coffee
grinder, a punka (ceiling fan) and a water filter that
purifies water from the well. In the garden are various
Philippine fruit trees, an empty stable with a
square-shaped calesa on the side and a bronze statue of
Rizal as a child done by Duddley Diaz (unveiled on June
19, 1998). The shrine has a souvenir shop, and lectures
and guiding services can be arranged. It is open
Tuesdays to Sundays,
8 am to 5 pm. Admission is free. The curator is Malou Valeza. For
inquiries: (092) 545-2010.
Calamba City
is located 55 km from Manila and is accessible via the
South Luzon Expressway. Take the Calamba Exit. |
