Maximo Viola News Today

Celebrating Dr. Jose Rizal's 161st birthday Photos courtesy of the Philippine Mission in Geneva and Kuluki Ave UNVEILING of the GLOBAL FILIPINO mural, May 20, 2022, Philippine Chancery, Geneva, Switzerland [Left to Right] Global Filipino by Manila Bulletin Bureau Chief, Ms. MARY GRACE C. YAP; Depu

Dr. Jose Rizal, the first ‘Global Filipino’ Photos courtesy of the Philippine Mission in Geneva and Kuluki Ave UNVEILING of the GLOBAL FILIPINO mural, May 20, 2022, Philippine Chancery, Geneva, Switzerland [Left to Right] Global Filipino by Manila Bulletin Bureau Chief, Ms. MARY GRACE C. YAP; D

Dr. Jose Rizal, the first ‘Global Filipino’ Photos courtesy of the Philippine Mission in Geneva and Kuluki Ave UNVEILING of the GLOBAL FILIPINO mural, May 20, 2022, Philippine Chancery, Geneva, Switzerland [Left to Right] Global Filipino by Manila Bulletin Bureau Chief, Ms. MARY GRACE C. YAP; D

It is a charming and, in its own way, fascinating correspondence... the letters they exchanged also illustrate something that is very rare, the evolution of a purely intellectual friendship. —Leon Ma. Guerrero.

(Part I) My younger relatives, sturdy branches of the Rizal genealogical tree, have often asked during family reunions – why Rizal? Why was he singled out? Why was he the only one executed under such dramatic circumstances? He was banished to rot in Dapitan, imprisoned in Montjuich and Fort Santiago, tried by a kangaroo court, then killed in  Bagumbayan at the crack of dawn. If he retracted, why did they have to kill him? You can tell we believe the retraction  was invented by the friars an...