NHCP: No record of Rizal traveling to Dagupan
THE attempt of the Dagupan City Council to illustrate the involvement of Dr. Jose P. Rizal in the life of Leonor Rivera suffered an initial setback.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has found no historical account corroborating that national hero Dr. Jose Rizal traveled to Dagupan where he allegedly wooed and serenaded his sweetheart Leonor Rivera.
This was contained in a letter of Dr. Rene Escalante, NHCP chairman, to Ryan Ravanzo, secretary of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Dagupan in connection with Resolution No. 7250-20178 of that body requesting assistance about the life of Leonor Rivera who once lived in Dagupan.
It is a temporary set back to the research on the life of Leonor Rivera being led by Pangasinan Fourth District Rep. Christopher de Venecia.
Escalante, however, recommended to the Dagupan City council to gather additional data from libraries and interview the descendants of Leonor Rivera in Camiling, Tarlac who, he said, are keeping her memorabilia.
Meanwhile, Escalante confirmed that Rivera was born on April 11, 1867 in Camiling, Tarlac. Her family moved to Dagupan where her father worked as a cloth merchant.
The NHCP said that according to historical data on Rivera, it was the Rivera’s house in Intramuros, Manila where Rizal stayed as a student of the University of Santo Tomas.
It was during Rizal’s second year in the university when Rizal and Rivera fell in love, and it was when Rizal was in Europe when Leonor’s family moved to Dagupan City.
It was said that the mother of Leonor, who was from Dagupan, was against the relationship of Rizal and Leonor so she kept all the letters of the former from her daughter.
Leonor later married Charles Henry Kipping on June 17, 1890 in Dagupan. She died on August 28, 1893 from complications after giving birth to her second child.
Kipping was a British railroad engineer whose company built the Caloocan to Dagupan railroad line.
The late Pangasinan historian Restituto Basa wrote that Rizal was a half- Pangasinense as his mother Teodora Alonzo was a grand daughter of Don Manuel Quintos, once the mayor of the Sangley town of Lingayen.
Basa added that Quintos Bridge in Dagupan was named after Manuel Quintos, the maternal grandfather of Rizal. (Leonardo Micua)
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