Sixty descendants of Dr. Jose Rizal, widely regarded as the greatest Philippine hero, have been invited by Mayor Roseller H. Rizal of Calamba and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to join the wreath-laying ceremonies to commemorate his 162nd birth anniversary on Monday, June 19, at the Rizal Shrine in Calamba, Laguna.
The Rizal clan includes Gemma Cruz Araneta, former tourism secretary, writer and beauty queen, who is one of the great grandnieces of Rizal. Her father, Ismael Cruz y Arguelles was one of the six children of Mauricio Cruz and Concepcion Arguelles. Mauricio was the son of Maria Rizal and Daniel Cruz.
RIZAL@162 — A group of tourists stop by a collection of portraits of Jose Rizal, from his younger to older years, that is on display at the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago. Today, June 19, 2023, is Rizal’s 162nd birth anniversary. (Juan Carlo de Vela)
Cruz-Araneta is a familiar sight in events commemorating Rizal’s life ever since she was invited to be the guest of honor at the Rizal birth anniversary celebration after she won the Miss International title in 1964.
Today, Gemma and cousins of her generation like Albert Filart (Olimpia line), Barbara Gonzalez and Mia Faustmann (Maria line) Ester Azurin (Paciano line) and Manuel Herbosa (Lucia line) have gathered the largest number of descendants to attend the hero’s birth anniversary to introduce the other members of the clan to public events, and especially to highlight the participation of the younger generation in leading efforts to preserve the inspiring narrative of Rizal’s life.
Two descendants of Gen X, Maxine Cruz (Maria line) and Racky Torres (Narcisa line), will speak on behalf of the family during the ceremony.
“We also plan to present to Dr. Emmanuel Calairo, newly-appointed chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, a plan on how to improve the interiors and display panels of the Rizal house, as well as docent training,” Ms. Cruz-Araneta said in her Manila Bulletin column on the “Changing of the guard,” or passing the torch to the younger generation. Early this month, the older generation of Rizal descendants discussed the importance of safeguarding the Rizal narrative and the urgency of passing on this duty to the Gen Xs and Zs.
“As early as I can remember, it was Dr. Leoncio Lopez-Rizal, Lolo Leoncio to my generation, who was the ‘captain of the guard’.” His mother, Narcisa Mercado (married to Antonio Lopez) was the sister of Rizal.
“Lolo Leoncio could not join his uncle Jose in Dapitan but he more than made up for that lost opportunity by becoming the guardian of the Rizal narrative. He collected Rizaliana, engaged in serious research and hosted descendants of Rizal’s European friends whenever they came to Manila,” she wrote in her column in Manila Bulletin.
She said Lolo Leoncio passed the responsibility to his daughter Asuncion Lopez Bantug or Tita Sony to them.
Then in 1964, when she became the first Filipina to win an international beauty title, Gemma said she was “thrust to the forefront” when people learned that Maria Rizal was her great grandmother.
She said leading the descendants was never an “official” designation. “I was an obscure ‘information editor’ in the National Museum where I worked after graduating from college in 1963. When I won the Miss Philippines contest in 1964, then sponsored by the City of Manila, tri-media practitioners interviewed me; they asked about my family. The famous one was my mother, Carmen Guerrero Nakpil; I was a non-entity basking in her shadow. While tracing my roots, the news reporters must have found out about the Rizal connection.”
From then on, Cruz-Araneta was invited to events related to Rizal.
“When I was the reigning Miss International, many schools in the Philippines invited me to talk about Jose Rizal, give commencement speeches, and preside over commemorations related to him. During the centennial of Rizal’s birth, the Centennial Commission took me and a couple of aunts to Madrid, Spain for the unveiling or Rizal’s monument. Someone had to give a speech in behalf of the descendants; my aunts were too shy and said they would lay the wreath and that I should speak. So, I did; I wrote a one-page speech in Spanish and read it after the unveiling of the Rizal monument. (The mayor of Madrid asked me why I spoke Spanish with a Mexican accent.)”
Cruz-Araneta said, seven years ago, the lady descendants decided to have monthly meetings. “One of the millennials set up a ‘Rizal ladies’ chat group. Other descendants had earlier set up the Rizal Family Foundation that funds scholarships at the National Teachers College, which used to be owned by an Arguelles uncle. There is a Rizal Family chat group which includes other descendants.”
In a meeting last Feb. 14, 2023 initiated by Cruz-Araneta, descendants of Saturnina, Lucia, Narcisa, Maria, Olimpia and Paciano were there, some who live abroad happened to be in town. Newly-appointed Secretary of Health Teddy Herbosa (from the Lucia line) came with wife Grace, she said.
Another meeting was held last June 4, during which Gemma broached the idea of “changing of the guard “and of improvements that had to be made in the Rizal shrines in Calamba and Dapitan. They felt that they needed to have an action plan.
The “action plan” starts today with the “changing of the guard.” Members of the younger generation will lay the family wreath at the Rizal Shrine.