Research as Methodology in Teaching

Name: D/C Bert Kent D. Orbecido

Program and year: BSMT -3

Subject/Course: Rizal 1

Teacher: Ms. Fernanda Pearl Noval-Ranido

Term: S.Y. 2016-2017

Date: August 15, 2016

THE GIRLFRIENDS OF JOSE RIZAL
TOPIC ASSIGNED

Introduction:
On June 19, 1861, Jos Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born
in Calamba in the Philippines' Laguna Province. A brilliant student who became
proficient in multiple languages, Jos Rizal studied medicine in Manila. In 1882,
he traveled to Spain to complete his medical degree.
Jose Rizal was quite the ladies man ever since he was about fifteen. What
else can you expect from a man who grew up with around nine sisters? Aside from
that, how can a woman ever resist such a refined, cultured and educated man? It is
obvious that Teodora Alonso taught Jose a thing or two about how to treat the
female species. It is easy to get kilig or giddy about the romantic ways that Jose
used to woo his women.

The Philippine national hero, Jose Rizal was at least linked to nine women
but according to one of my sources, there are twelve women

before

Josephine

Bracken and that makes it to thirteen women. The nine women were namely
Segunda Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela, Leonor Rivera, Consuelo Ortiga, O-Sei
San, Gertrude Beckette, Nelly Boustead, Suzanne Jacoby and Josephine Bracken.
The additional four women are Julia, Miss L, Adelina Boustead and Pastora
Necesario Carreon.

Discussion

Leonor Rivera his sweetheart for 11 years played

the greatest influence in keeping him from falling in
love

with

other

women

during

his

travel.

Unfortunately, Leonors mother disapproved of her

daughters relationship with Rizal, who was then a
known filibustero. She hid from Leonor all letters sent
to her sweetheart. Leonor believing that Rizal had
already forgotten her, sadly consented her to marry the Englishman Henry Kipping,
her mothers choice. She was the inspiration for the character of Maria Clara in
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo that is written by Rizal. Rizal was 18 years
old when he was linked to her. The description that Rizal gave to her was "Tender
as a budding flower with kindly, wistful eyes. The main reason of their separation
was that, in the autumn of 1890, Rizal received a letter from Leonor telling him of
her coming marriage to a man whom her mother chose to be her mate.

O-Sei-San, a Japanese samurais daughter taught

Rizal the Japanese art of painting known as su-mie. She
also helped Rizal improve his knowledge of Japanese
language. If Rizal was a man without a patriotic mission,
he would have married this lovely and intelligent woman
and lived a stable and happy life with her in Japan because
Spanish legation there offered him a lucrative job. Rizal was 27 years old when
they met at Tokyo, Japan. You have the color of Camelia, its freshness, its
elegance", said Rizal. They separated because Rizal was offered a position at the
Spanish Legation during that time. He then decided to leave Japan and forget his
romance which pained him gravely because he truly loved O-Sei-San.

Leonor

Valenzuela

tall

girl

from

Pagsanjan. Rizal sent her love notes written in

invisible ink that could only be deciphered over
the warmth of the lamp or candle. He visited her
on the eve of his departure to Spain and bade her
last goodbye. Rizal was at the age of 17 when they met at the House of Dona

Concha Leyva in Intramuros, as his neighbor. The reason of their separation is

that Leonor married another man.

Gertrude Beckett, while Rizal was in

London annotating the Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas, he boarded in the house of the Beckett
family, within walking distance of the British
Museum. Gertrude, a blue-eyed and buxom girl
was the oldest of the three Beckett daughters. She
fell in love with Rizal. Tottie helped him in his
painting and sculpture. But Rizal suddenly left
London for Paris to avoid Gertrude, who was seriously in love with him. Before
leaving London, he was able to finish the group carving of the Beckett sisters. He
gave the group carving to Gertrude as a sign of their brief relationship. Rizal was at
the age of 27 when they met on May 1888. Rizal withdrew his feelings to her
because he realized that he had a greater mission to fulfill.

Consuelo Ortiga y Perez the prettier of Don Pablo

Ortigas daughters fell in love with him. He dedicated to her
A la Senorita C.O. y R., which became one of his best
poems. Rizal was at the age of 21 22 when they met at the
home of Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, the former city mayor of
Manila. He probably fell in love with her and Consuelo apparently asked him for
romantic verses. Rizal's romance with Consuelo did not turn into a serious affair;
He suddenly backed out before the relationship turned into a serious romance,
because he wanted to remain loyal to Leonor Rivera and he did not want to destroy
his friendship with Eduardo de Lete, who was madly in love with Consuelo.

Nellie Boustead, Rizal having lost Leonor

Rivera, entertained the thought of courting other
ladies. While a guest of the Boustead family at
their residence in the resort city of Biarritz, he had befriended the two pretty daughters of his host,
Eduardo Boustead. Rizal used to fence with the sisters at the studio of Juan Luna.
Antonio Luna, Juans brother and also a frequent visitor of the Bousteads, courted
Nellie but she was deeply infatuated with Rizal. In a party held by Filipinos in
Madrid, a drunken Antonio Luna uttered unsavory remarks against Nellie

Boustead. This prompted Rizal to challenge Luna into a duel. Fortunately, Luna
apologized to Rizal, thus averting tragedy for the compatriots. Rizal describe her
as a mestiza daughter of a Filipina and a wealthy French-English merchant whose
house was frequented by Filipinos in France. In the year of 1891, Rizal was around
29 30 years old when they met. Their love affair unfortunately did not end in
marriage because Nellie demanded that Rizal give up his Catholic faith and
convert to Protestanism, where rizal refused it. The lovers, however, parted as good
friends when Rizal left Europe.

Segunda Katigbak is the Puppy Love of

Jose Rizal at the age of 16. They met at Lipa,
Batangas. She was rather short, with eyes that
were eloquent and ardent at times and languid at
others, rosy-cheeked, with an enchanting and
provocative smile that revealed very beautiful
teeth, and the air of a sylph; her entire selfdiffused a mysterious charm, Rizal said. Segunda was already engaged to be
married to her townmate,

Manuel Luz. Suzanne Jacoby, in the year 1890 Rizal moved to

Brussels because of the high cost of living in Paris. In
Brussels, he lived in the boarding house of the two Jacoby
sisters. In time, they fell deeply in love with each other.
Suzanne cried when Rizal left Brussels and wrote him when he
was

in

Madrid. Rizal was 29 years old when they met on January 28, 1890 at

Brussels, Belgium. They separated because Rizal realized that he could not deceive
her. Suzanne fell in love with Rizal and wept when he left for Madrid in July 1890.

Josephine Bracken was the adopted daughter of George Taufer from Hong
Kong, who came to Dapitan to seek Rizal for
eye treatment. Rizal was physically attracted
to her. His loneliness and boredom must have
taken the measure of him and what could be a
better diversion that to fall in love again. But
the Rizal sisters suspected Josephine as an
agent of the friars and they considered her as a threat to Rizals security. She
was an 18-year-old petite Irish girl, with bold blue eyes, brown hair and a happy
disposition. Rizal was 33 year old when they met on February 1895 at Dapitan.
How it ended: Rizal regarded Josephine as her wife until his last breath.

Julia Celeste Smith was a sixteen year old lady and she
was the first girlfriend of Rizal. They met at a river in
Dampalit, Los Baos, Laguna when Rizal was checking their
tree yards of atis, balimbing, macopa and santol, she was the
first woman to catch Rizal's eyes. Not many people know
what exactly Julia looked like or what her last name even was but it was recorded
by Joses older sister Triliana that she had a simple kind of beauty with an innocent
charm. Julia seems to be such a mysterious girl but the spontaneous way that Jose
used to get to know her showed just what a sweet guy he was even at such a young
age.

Miss L or Jacinta Ibardo Laza is a

professor from Pakil, Laguna who was the
third girlfriend of Rizal. The name Miss L
describes her as Fair with seductive and
attractive eyes. They broke up because for
two reasons: first, the sweet memory of Segunda was still fresh; second, his father
objected to the romance with Miss L because she was the professor of Rizal.

Adelina Boustead was the sister of Nellie

Boustead, daughter of Mr. Eduardo Boustead in Biarritz.
Rizal was paired with her, when Juan Luna was courting
to Nelly Boustead.

Pastora Necesario Carreon aka Inday Torak was the

eleventh girlfriend of Rizal and is from Dapitan City,
Zamboanga del Norte where Jose Rizal was exiled. She is a
Pastor on a church on Dapitan. Rizal fell deeply in love in
this girl but their relationship did not last because Necesario
is a pastora and she want to give her full love on her church.
Josephine Bracken was the woman who got the heart
of our national hero, Jose Rizal. She was the last love of Jose Rizal. Rizal asked
Josephine to marry him, but she was not yet ready to make a decision due to her
responsibility to the blind Taufer. Since Taufers blindness was untreatable, he left
for Hon Kong on March 1895. Josephine stayed with Rizals family in Manila.
Upon her return to Dapitan, Rizal tried to arrange with Father Antonio Obach for
their marriage. However, the priest wanted a retraction as a precondition before

marrying them. Rizal upon the advice of his family and friends and with
Josephines consent took her as his wife even without the Church blessings.
Josephine later gave birth prematurely to a stillborn baby, a result of some
incidence, which might have shocked or frightened her.

Reflection

The delightful account in the life of Rizal was his story and inspiration
including his first romance. This made the young adolescents inspired about his
romance at the age of sixteen. There were love letters of Rizal that related about
how be expressed his loving thoughts as a teenager that time. A good example is
the iconic infatuation of Rizal to Miss K and love notes for Miss L.
This article teaches the young teenager about the sharing of loving thoughts
on their early years of experience about love. They must know how to handle
infatuation including frustrations in love just like the love story of Rizal. What are
the we can give to the teenagers in commiting to love with somebody else. The
ethical and moral values in caring someone you love. The way the love adores by
inspiration and respect as the golden rule of compassion in heart. The good way to
experience love inspires by pursuing our dreams to be properly educated and find a
better future for our family.
Rizals first love was Senorita Segunda Katigbak. That December she
married Don Manuel Luz, and became the mother of Arsenio Luz, who at the
writing of this book, occupies a prominent place in Philippine business and social
circles. Their love story will never be forgotten by Filipinos. In fact Josephine
Bracken be the one the most famous girlfriends of Rizal overall.
Reference

http://myrizal150.com/2013/04/jose-rizals-loves-an-analyzed-revised-view/
https://joserizalfans.wordpress.com/category/rizals-love-life/
http://joseprizallovestory.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Top_10_Lovers_of_Jose_Rizal
http://www.joserizal.ph/lv01.html
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/2013/6/rizals-great-loves