LOOKING BACK ON THE HUMANITY OF THE PHILIPPINES’ NATIONAL HERO JOSE RIZAL AND HIS STORIED TRAGIC LOVE LIFE ON THIS VALENTINE’S DAY OF 2023

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Greetings and Cheers and a Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you!

A popular song among ex-couples, who had to let go of one another for the reason that breaking apart is the right thing to do, is “Somewhere down the Road.” It’s lyrics tells the story of a love that was lost, but one that still clings to the hope that someday and somewhere lovers who fell apart will find themselves in each other’s arms again. It was written by Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow and recorded in 1981 by American singer-songwriter, arranger, musician and producer with a career that has spanned more than 50 years, Barry Manilow.

If O Sei San were still alive in the 1980’s, she could have dedicated this song to the national hero of the Philippines’ Dr. Jose Rizal, as she had to let go of the great Filipino patriot in order for him to fulfill his dream for his country’s destiny. Indeed, Rizal could have lived longer and established his own family had he opted staying in Japan with O Sei San. However, Rizal made an extraordinary sacrifice when he chose to return to the Philippines and devote his precious life for his fellow countrymen.

It was only in recent years that interests have arisen to unravel the mystery of Rizal’s Japanese love –“O Sei San.” His relationship with his Japanese sweetheart and his stay in Japan for over a little month has been one of the highlights of PhilippineJapan relations. Leonor Rivera may be Jose Rizal’s greatest love as she was his girlfriend for some quite long years. However, their relationship did not last as Rivera was forced to marry an English engineer named Charles Kipping. On the other hand, a Japanese maiden named Seiko Usui (O Sei San) had loved Rizal like no other woman.

The short-lived residence in Japan proved to be one of the happiest days in Rizal’s life for he was not only fascinated with the sceneries in Japan but he also fell in love with O Sei San. Their love came to an end when Rizal had to leave. His heart was filled with grief as he bid “Sayonara” to O Sei San. Rizal left Japan bound for San Francisco on board the English ship Belgic in April 1888. A day before he departed Japan, Rizal wrote in his diary his regret for leaving, and his longing for the love of O Sei San.

“O Sei San…Sayonara, Goodbye! I have spent a lovely golden month; I do not know if I will have another one like it in all my life. Love, money, friendship, esteem, privileges…no woman like you has ever loved me… no woman has made such sacrifices as you have…you shall never know what I still think of you, and that your image lives on in my memory… when shall I return to spend another divine afternoon like that in the temple of Meguro?...When will the sweet hours I spent with you come back?... Everything is at an end! Sayonara, Goodbye!”

Jose Rizal’s dalliances with various women in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world have made him a legend and a hero to Filipino men who aspire to be as smooth as he was. Whether these encounters were more likely brief flirtations than full-blown relationships doesn’t seem to matter too many. The point is -the man was just like all of us – falling in love and waxing sentimental over fond memories about the one that got away. Or in this case, the more than one who got away. Ha-ha-ha-ha!

On this Valentine’s Day of 2023, we look back on the other wonderful women who caught the Filipino’s national hero’s eye:

Segunda Katigbak was the sister of Mariano Katigbak, Rizal’s friend and classmate. She studied in La Concordia College (located in my beloved historical hometown of Sta. Ana in old Manila), where Rizal’s sister Olympia also enrolled.

Some say the two met in Trozo, Manila, while others say it was in Lipa, Batangas. Given that Segunda studied in the same school as Rizal’s sister, he did the most logical thing: visit La Concordia College more frequently, ostensibly to see his sister but primarily to get a glimpse of the girl he described as having “eloquent eyes, rosy cheeks, and a smile that reveals very beautiful teeth.”

The story goes that Rizal told Segunda that he was returning home to Calamba for the New Year. He added he might see her when her steamer docks at Binan and she passes through Calamba on her way to Lipa. He waited for her and he did see her pass by on a carriage – in fact, she even waved to him – but instead of following her, he chose to go home.

And that is how it abruptly ended.

Leonor Valenzuela or “Orang” was his neighbor when he stayed in Intramuros while studying at the University of Santo Tomas.

Being neighbors gave Rizal plenty of opportunities to find some reason to hang out with Orang whether or not there was an occasion for them to meet up. He wrote love letters to her in invisible ink, and it’s been speculated that he did so to cover up his indiscretion, as he was also pursuing his next love, Leonor Rivera, at the time. And how did it concluded? Without tears or fanfare, Rizal may have been strongly infatuated with Orang, but it’s likely that Orang didn’t feel the same way about him. She went on with her life, entertaining other suitors, and not even shedding a tear when Rizal left the country.

Although our history books suggest that Rizal was somehow a ladies’ man, there’s no doubt that his first true love was Leonor Rivera, his near-cousin and childhood sweetheart who became the inspiration behind the character Maria Clara in Rizal’s novel “Noli Me Tangere” (Touch Me Not).

A native of Camiling,Tarlac,

Leonor Rivera captured Rizal’s heart when they met during the former’s 13th birthday party. Rizal was then a medical student who boarded at the Casa Tomasina, which at that time was managed by the Rivera’s. Bumping into each other was inevitable: Leonor and Rizal’s youngest sister, Soledad, were both boarding students at La Concordia College. Before long, the casual encounters blossomed into a full-fledged romance.

For a decade (1880-1890), the star-crossed lovers wrote each other countless of letters, even after Rizal left for Europe to further his medical studies. They continued to keep in touch but they never saw each other again – no thanks to “Noli Me Tangere” which already reached the Philippines’ shores and had put anyone close to Rizal under tight scrutiny by Spanish authorities. Worse, Leonor’s mother, who was already aware of Rizal’s reputation as a “filibusterer,” bribed the local postal clerk so the letters wouldn’t reach Leonor.

When the messages stopped coming, the two grew more and more distant from each other. Fearful that Rizal would only put her daughter’s life in danger, Leonor’s mother did everything she could to stop the relationship. She convinced Leonor to marry Henry Kipping, an Englishman and railroad engineer who was involved in the construction of the Dagupan-Manila railway then.

Leonor agreed to marry Kipping on three conditions: Her mother would stand beside her during the wedding and she would never sing or even play the piano again for as long as she lived. Upon hearing the sad news, Rizal allegedly “wept like a child.” It took him half a year before he told what had happened to his Austrian friend and confidant, Ferdinand Blumentritt.

In 1893, Rivera died after giving birth to her second child with Kipping. It is said that one of her requests was to have the silver box containing the ashes of Rizal’s burned letters be buried with her.

The most that can be dug up about

Jesse T. Reyes Filipino Potpourri

keen on Rizal, helping him with his artwork. Supposedly, her assistance helped Rizal finish his works, namely ‘Prometheus Bound’, ‘The Triumph of Death over Life’, and ‘The Triumph of Science over Death.’ got married to someone else, which probably prompted him to think, “Hey, you know what? I’m going to get married too! That’ll show her!”

It’s pretty safe to say that nothing really happened between them in the first place, save for the crush Gettie had on “Pettie” (this was her nickname for Rizal). Some sources say that Rizal got cold feet, which made him decide to leave London for Paris in March 1889, possibly in an effort to let Gettie down easy.

So, moving on - Suzanne Jacoby was a Belgian woman who was the niece of the landladies of the boarding house where Rizal stayed in Brussels in February 1890.

In jest, will someone please keep Rizal away from all those boarding houses…Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Just kidding…Ha-ha-ha-ha!!

Rizal’s six-month stay in the city saw him spending a lot of time with Suzanne, and they attended the city’s summertime festival together.

Somehow, it went asunder because Nellie wanted Rizal to convert to Protestantism, and her mother didn’t approve of a man who didn’t have the capacity to give her daughter a good life. But it didn’t end in tears, as this two had a pretty amicable breakup and she even wished him well in a letter as he was about to leave Europe.

Born in Hong Kong to Irish parents, Josephine Bracken was the wife of Rizal; he called her “dulce extranjera” (sweet stranger).

In real life ambition, greed, lust among others drive humans to commit evil things. But what drives them to act? Do evil ideas just come as a spur of the moment thing or are they inseparable from self? St. Paul alluded to this in his Letter to the Galatians where he suggested that the earth’s elements may be transformed from its own energy and to degenerate as caused by fallen spirits. Meaning humans are good candidates for the picking.

Star worship is one who worships himself as gods of the earthly elements (air, earth, fire, and water).

Think of capitalism as evil per Pope Francis, that make use of these elements to enrich themselves or be famous (oil, space travel, real estate, manufacturing, agriculture). Star worship is a lot more. It can start with a selfie (metaphorically) and you like what you see. You’re the man, the top guy, number one!

Star worship, big or small in and of itself is a cult, a fast-growing religion with its own commandments. The insatiable thirst and hunger for selffulfillment serves as an aphrodisiac for higher and bigger things that a man desires most – fame, wealth, power. Trying to achieve and fulfil these desires is an endless loop. Nothing earthly really satisfies man. What makes self-worship so potent is the fact that we are susceptible to sinning. Sinning is pleasurable. Star worship truly believes that man is the source who defines what is the truth. His words are authoritative, and he becomes a sovereign in his mind by virtue of having followers who help make things happen because he has the power. Man wants to climb the highest peak that God created and declare himself supreme. Desire for millions to billions, trillions and gazillions even, it is bottomless. Unsatisfied with his earthly kingdom, he wants to expand beyond and rule the heavens too via the most expensive airfare space travel can offer.

Consuelo Ortiga Rey is that she was the daughter of Don Pablo Ortiga, a former mayor of Manila.

Consuelo wrote in her dairy that she first met Rizal in Madrid on September 16, 1882, and apparently they talked the whole night (Always a promising start to any interrelation, if one may think about it…Ha-ha-haha!). Sources say she had a penchant for asking Rizal to write her poems and verses, and he would happily comply. The most well-known of these is entitled “A La Senorita C.O. y R.”

Things happened and one of Rizal’s compatriots Eduardo de Lete, apparently had his eye on Consuelo, too which forced Rizal to back out of whatever budding association he had within her. Also, he was still then engaged to Leonor Rivera, which he probably should have thought of before even considering starting something with another woman.

Nicknamed “Gettie” by Rizal, Gertrude Beckett was the daughter of Charles Beckett, who was Rizal’s landlord when he stayed in London, England in May of 1888.

After his stay in the United States (Yes, Rizal made it here in the US, just like the rest of us, too…Ha-haha-ha!) – Rizal headed to London and stayed in the boarding house run by Charles Beckett. Gettie was apparently

However, it seems that Rizal just wasn’t into her. He left her a box of chocolates, which she didn’t even open, possibly to keep as a memento. She wrote him two months later, telling him about the unopened box of chocolates and urging him to hurry back. In another letter she sent him, Suzanne wondered if Rizal even thought about her, and resigned herself to the fact that she might not see him again. He ended up returning to Brussels in April 1891, but only to keep working on his second and last novel “El Filibusterismo” (The Reign of Greed).

Nellie Boustead was the daughter of British businessman Eduardo Boustead and was half-Filipina. She was also the fiancée of Antonio Luna (Yes, that fiery brilliant Filipino Army general who fought in the PhilippineAmerican War!)

Rizal had been friends with her family and he used to fence with Nellie and her sister Adelina at Filipino painter, sculptor and political activist, Juan Luna’s studio. In February 1891, Rizal stayed at the Villas Eliad, the Boustead’s winter residence in Biarritz (an elegant seaside town on southwestern France’s Basque coast) on the French Riviera. Apparently, it got to the point where Rizal actually considered proposing to Nellie, although it might have been the rebound blues talking; at the time, he had just learned that Leonor Rivera

Josephine, together with her adoptive father George Taufer, sailed to the Philippines and then to Dapitan to see Rizal, as Taufer’s eyes required medical attention and Rizal had already then developed an impressive reputation as an eye specialist. Josephine and Rizal eventually fell in love, although Rizal’s sisters thought she was a spy for the Spanish. They lived in Barangay Talisay in Dapitan where their son Francisco was stillborn.

After Rizal’s death, Josephine returned to Hong Kong and lived with her father. In 1900, she married Vicente Abad and they had a daughter named Dolores. Josephine died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. Others say she actually returned to the Philippines and lived in Cebu with her husband and taught English at various institutions.

Now, if you’re asking what other ladies caught our old country’s national hero’s eye?

Well…full particulars dug up by leading experts on Jose Rizal such as Renato Constantino (“Veneration Without Understanding,” 1970) and Ambeth Ocampo (“Rizal without the Overcoat,” Revised Edition 1998) tells us that the first step to being grateful for the heroism of Jose Rizal is to appreciate his humanity: his limitations, shortcomings, sins and his quirks.

Here is a genuine fact that may have been obscured in the teaching on the subject of history back in the old homeland of ours: Rizal did allowed himself some “amusements.”

In 1883 when Rizal was in his late 20s in Europe, he wrote to his elder brother Paciano: “Women abound even more here in Madrid and it is, indeed shocking that in many places

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