A walk through Rizal Park on the National Hero’s 154th birthday

On June 19, 1861, Teodora Alonso gave birth to a National Hero. José Protasio Mercado Rizal y Alonzo Realonda grew up to become a scholar, an author, a poet, a correspondent, a polyglot and a doctor. He was also a nationalist, a man of courage and vision who hoped to secure political and social reforms in his beloved homeland—and who wrote two masterpieces that criticized Spanish rule and shone a light on the oppression of his people. He was executed by firing squad on December 30, 1896.

Bagumbayan, the site where Rizal uttered his last words—"consummatum est"—was renamed in his honor in 1913.

For Rizal's 154th birth anniversary on Friday, June 19, GMA News Online presents facts Filipinos should know about the historic Rizal Park.

Rizal Park fast facts

Location: Roxas Boulevard, Manila
Borders: Taft Avenue, T.M.Kalaw, Roxas Boulevard, and Padre Burgos; the Relief Map of the Philippines and Quirino Grandstand
Area: 58 hectares
Maintained by: National Parks Development Committee (NPDC)
Estimated tourist arrival per year: 8.2 million
Recognition: First urban park in Asia

From Bagumbayan to Luneta

Bagumbayan was mentioned in the records of the Supreme Court of Spain under the Spanish appellation Nuevo Barrio in 1601. The name was later change to Luneta, which in Spanish means a "detached, crescent-shaped fort."

Its marshy grounds remained a "no man's land" until 1820, when the Paseo de Luneta was built adjacent to the beach. It became the place to be for Manila's elite.

It also became the execution ground for the "rebels and mutineers" against Spanish rule.

Between 1823 and 1897, 158 patriots and martyrs were felled on the square by Spanish infantrymen, including Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora as well as Rizal himself.

According to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), there were some 880 people martyred at the old Bagumbayan during the Spanish period.

The rise of the Rizal Monument

On September 28, 1901, the United States Philippine Commission approved Act No. 243, which would erect a monument in Luneta to commemorate the memory of Rizal.

A committee, which included Rizal's brother Paciano Rizal, was tasked to raise funds for the monument. The estimated cost of the monument was P100,000, including prizes for the winners of the design contest.

When the campaign closed in August 1912, the amount collected had reached P135,195.61, including P30,000 donated by the insular government.

An international design competition was held from 1905 to 1907, during which sculptors from Europe and the United States were invited to submit entries. The committee received a total of 40 entries.

Italian artist Carlo Nicoli won the grand prize of P5,000 for its design, "Al Martir de Bagumbayan." Its design was neo-classical, and the plans described an 18-meter-tall monument with a base of gray Italian marble and a pedestal of white Italian marble.

However, Nicoli was not able to post a construction bond, so the honor of designing the monument went instead to the second prize winner, Swiss sculptor Richard Kissling.

His design, "Motto Stella"—"guiding star" in Latin—was said to be opposite of the grand prize winner's elaborate design.

The monument, measuring 14 meters high from the platform, features a bronze Rizal facing the sea while holding books that are said to his novels "Noli me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo." The obelisk rising from the center of the monument is surrounded by the allegorical figures of a mother rearing a child and two boys reading books, also bronze.

The three gold-plated stars on top of the obelisk represent Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

A plaque in front of the pedestal reads, "To the memory of José Rizal, patriot and martyr, executed on Bagumbayan Field December Thirtieth 1896. This monument is dedicated by the people of the Philippine Islands."
 
The park would not only bear a statue of the hero, but would also house his remains. Rizal had been buried in the Paco Park cemetery, but his sister Narcisa had him exhumed in 1898. She kept his remains in an urn in the family home in Binondo until they were re-buried in Luneta.

During the cornerstone laying on December 30, 1912, the Rizal's remains were interred beneath the monument.

The shrine was finally unveiled and Luneta was renamed Rizal Park on December 30, 1913, Rizal’s 17th death anniversary.

Present and future

In November 2014, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) declared the Rizal Monument one of the world's threatened heritage sites "in danger and in urgent need of government attention and necessitating protection."

The resolution from ICOMOS was sought in light of the construction of the Torre de Manila, a residential condominium project that is seen to mar the vista or visual corridors of the Rizal Monument. Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order stopping the construction of the 46-storey building.

Far from being a sterile monument to a man long dead, Rizal is a pulsing part of the city and of national life. It is one of Metro Manila's few green spaces remaining, a vital lung in an increasingly clogged urban sprawl. It is also where people gather to see Popes, to protest government corruption or celebrate milestones, or simply to be with each other. This is one way we honor Jose Rizal—by having his park, and his monument, be an important part of our ives.

— Trisha Macas/BM, GMA News