Ancestry and Social Status

• Rizal


  A tornatra
• The man known as Pride of the Malay Race also counted among his ancestors people of Chinese and Spanish descent
• Siang-Co and Zun-nio


  Paternal lineage, great great grandfather of Rizal from Sionque in the Chinchew District of Fujian Province in China
• Lam-co


  Son of Siang-co and Zun-nio who migrated to the Philippines around 1600's
• Domingo


  Lam-co's baptized name, adopted as his first name
• Ines de la Rosa


  Chinese-mestiza daughter of Agustin Chin-co and Jacinta Rafaela of Parian, married Domingo
• Domingo and Ines


  Settled in San Isidro Labrador, an estate in Laguna owned by the Dominicans
• Ines gave birth to Francisco Mercado


  1731
• Francisco Mercado


  Name chosen in honor of two friars, surname Mercado (market) due to most ethnic Chinese being merchants
• Francisco married Cirila Bernarda Monicha


  1771
• Cirila Bernarda Monicha


  From the Augustinian-owned Hacienda San Pedro Tunasan, like Binan
• Francisco and Bernarda


  Had a son named Juan
• Juan


  Married Cirila Alejandra, who hailed from his grandfather's native Tubigan
• Cirila Alejandra


  Daughter of Domingo's godson Juan Siong-co
• Juan and Cirila Alejandra

  Had 13 children, one of whom is Francisco Engracio
• Paternal lineage


  • Siang-co and Zun-nio
  • Domingo and Ines
  • Francisco Mercado and Cirila Bernarda Monicha
  • Juan and Cirila Alejandra
  • Francisco Engracio
• Hacienda San Pedro Tunasan


  Augustinian-owned, home to many Chinese immigrants and sangleys
• Biñan


  Also home to many Chinese immigrants and sangleys
• Rizal was orphaned quite early, and later went and lived with her family in Biñan
• Francisco and Bernarda had a son named Juan
• Juan married a Chinese mestiza named Cirila Alejandra who hailed from his grandfather's native Tubigan
• Cirila Alejandra was the daughter of Domingo's godson Juan Siong-co
• The couple had 13 children, one of whom was Francisco Engracio
• Rizal's maternal lineage

  Can be traced to the last ruler of the pre-Spanish kingdom of Tondo - the great Sibunao Lacandola
• There was a certain Captain Mariano Alejandro who bore to Faustina Florentina, a Chinese mestiza, a daughter named Maria Alejandro
• Maria Alejandro was married to Captain Cipriano Alonzo, the son of a Chinese mestizo named Captain Gregorio Alonzo
• Captain Cipriano and Maria had a son named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo who was "very Chinese in appearance"
• Lorenzo Alberto would marry a certain Brigida de Quintos and fathered with her Rizal's mother Teodora
• Brigida de Quintos was of mixed ancestry, with her maternal lineage traced to a certain Policarpio Ochoa
• Policarpio Ochoa had a son named Estanislao Manuel Ochoa who had a mix of Chinese-Tagalog-Castilian lineage
• Among the family of Estanislao Manuel was a woman of such beauty that she was known as the "Sampaguita of the Parian", Mariquita Ochoa
• Mariquita Ochoa managed to capture the eyes and heart of the exile known as the Marquis de Canete, and their union bore Regina Ochoa
• Regina Ochoa, in turn, bore Brigida de Quintos to the lawyer Manuel de Quintos
• Some other sources have Eugenio Ursua, a man of Japanese descent, as the father of Regina
• Records agree that Regina Ochoa was of Chinese-Tagalog-Spanish ancestry
• Rizal's mixed lineage

  Helped him become who he became in the annals of Philippine history
• Malayan blood flowing through Rizal's veins


  Made him the lover of freedom and of travel, as well as the man of unshakeable courage
• Rizal's Chinese ancestry


  Made him become the serious, patient, loving and frugal man that people know
• Rizal's Spanish lineage


  Gave him his sensitivity to insult, elegance of bearing and gallantry to ladies
• Rizal's fight was not so much about ethno-cultural nationalism as it was about socio-political nationalism