Chapter three

Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Binan.

Despite the defects of the Spanish system of elementary education, Rizal was able to acquire the necessary instruction preparatory for college work in Manila and abroad.

The first teacher of rizal was his mother, who was a remarkable woman of good character and fine lecture.

He learned at the age of three the alphabet and the prayers.

As a tutor, Donya Tedora was patient, conscientious, and understanding. It was she who first discovered that her son had a talent for poetry.

As Jose grew older, his parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at home. 

The first was Maestro Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua. 

Leon Monroy, who’s a former classmate of Rizal’s father, became the boys tutor. 

He was the one instructed Rizal in Spanish and Latin. Unfortunately, he did not live long. He died five months later.

After Monroy’s death, the hero’s parents decided to send their gifted son to a private school in Binan.

When Jose was tearful parting from his sisters, he was accompanied by Paciano, who acted as his second father. 

they proceeded to their aunt's house, where jose was to lodge.

At the first day of Rizal in Binan School, Paciano brought his younger brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz.

The school was in the house of the teacher, which was a small nipa hut about 30 meters from the home of Jose’s aunt.

Jose met the bully, Pedro. He was angry at this bully for making fun of him during his conversation with the teacher in the morning.

Jose challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter readily accepted, thinking that he could easily beat the Calamba boy who was smaller and younger.

Jose, learned the art of wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel, and successfully defeated the biggEr boy. For this feat, he became popular among his classmates.

A classmate named Andres Salandanan challenged him to an arm-wrestling match. Jose, having the weaker arm, lost and nearly cracked his head on the sidewalk.

There was a painter named, Juancho, who was a father-in-law of the school teacher. Jose, lured by his love of painting, spent many leisure hours at the painter’s studio.

Old Juancho freely gave him lessons in drawing and painting. He was impressed by the artistic talent of the Calamba lad.

Jose and his classmate, Jose Guevarra, who also loved painting, became apprentices of the old painter. They improved their art, so that in due time they became “the favorite paints of the class”.

In academics, Jose beat all Binan boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin and other subjects.

The Spanish authorities, in order to liquidate Father Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora, leaders of the secular movement to Filipinize the Philippine parishes, and their supporters magnified the failed mutiny into a “revolt” for Philippine independence.

Despite the archbishop’s plea for clemency because of their innocence, were executed at sunrise, February 17, 1872, by order of Gov. Gen. Izquierdo.

The martyrdom was deeply mourned by the Rizal family and many other patriotic families in the Philippines.

With the help of the heroic story shared by his older brother Paciano, the martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za in 1872 truly inspired Rizal to fight the evils of Spanish tyranny and redeem his oppressed people.

Donya Tedora was suddenly arrested on a malicious charge that she and her brother, Jose Alberto, tried to poison the latter’s perfidious wife.

Jose Alberto is a rich Binan ilustrado, he had just returned from a business trip in Europe.

During his absence, his wife abandoned their house and their children. When he arrived in Binan, he found her wife living with another man. Because of this incident, he planned to divorce her.

Donya Tedora, to cover family scandal, persuaded him to forgive his wife.

The family trouble was amicably settled. However, the evil wife, with the connivance of the Spanish lieutenant of the Guardia Civil, filed a case in court accusing her husband and Donya Teodora of attempting to poison her.

After arresting Donya Teodora, the sadistic Spanish lieutenant forced her to walk from Calamba to Santa Cruz.

Upon arrival, she was incarcerated at th provincial prison, where she languished for two years and half until the Manila Royal Audiencia acquitted her of the alleged crime.

Recounting this incidence of his mother’s imprisonment, Rizal said in his student memoirs:

“Our mother was unjustly snatched away from us and by whom? By some men who had been our friends and whom we treated as honored guests. We learned later that our mother got sick, far from  us and at an advance age. 

My mother was defended by Messrs. Francisco de Marcaida and Manuel Marzan, the most famous lawyers of Manila. 

SHE FINALLY SUCCEEDED TO BE ACQUITTED AND VINDICATED IN THE EYES OF HER JUDGES, ACCUSERS, AND EVEN HER ENEMIES, BUT AFTER HOW LONG? AFTER TWO AND HALF YEARS.”