19 June, 1861

TODAY IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY:

José Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna, Philippines. He was the seventh child in a family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls). Both his parents were educated and belonged to distinguished families. He studied in France and Germany, becoming a polyglot, and wrote books on non-violence. Dr. Rizal is a many-faceted genius who consecrated his God-given talents for the freedom and welfare of his people through peaceful reforms.

He formed La Liga Filipina, a reform society, and exposed the Spanish oppression there. In 1891, he published a sequel (El Filibusterismo) to his first book (Noli Me Tangere), and thus became the leading spokesman of the Philippine reform movement and later the leader of the Propaganda Movement. He was imprisoned in 1892 and exiled, and later was executed at the age of 35, in 1896.

(Ref: wikipedia, ask.com)