Think about it
Rizal and Leonor’s love story bloomed and ended in Dagupan
By Jun Velasco
NEVER mind if Joey Salceda, the Albay governor and economic adviser of the President, can’t comb his hair properly.
But what he told PGMA in last Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting was disturbing.
Fact is Joey finds the country in the throes of socio economic collapse and wonders how the poor, about 87 percent of the whole population, could survive the crisis.
Joey was then mastermind of the P500 a day subsidy for the poor which in concept should be earmarked for three years. Next, Joey has proposed another subsidy for rice because, he says, 84 percent of Filipinos buy rice, they don’t grow it.
Those are only two basic needs in Joey’s “State of Imminent Social Calamity” strategy which, if not handled carefully, would open the gates to something unimaginably worse.
God forbid!
* * * *
We doff our hat to highly revered neighbor, Dr. Esther A, Vedana, Dean of the University of Luzon’s College of Criminology, for being one of the few honorees of the Professional Regulation Commission as an Outstanding Professional in the field of Criminology.
We missed the awards nite at the Manila Hotel Friday to which we were invited by the beloved wife of our friend. Judge Salvador “Buddy” Vedana herself and by PRC’s former chairman, Manila Bulletin Publisher Hermogenes Pobre.
The award brings to mind a favorite expression by all of us who want nothing but the best, “be a pro.” It means “nothing less,” or the best, the “mostest,” wala ka ng hahanapin pa sa nasabing propesyon.
Now you know the fine stuff Dr. Vedaña is made of. We join the whole nation in felicitating her for the finest record in the field of criminology and the university where this nugget of gold was found — University of Luzon.
* * * *
In observance of Jose Rizal’s birthday and Dagupan City Day, we lifted an excerpt of a beautitul article, “Rizal’s Maria Clara,” from “Nandaragupan,” a landmark coffee table book compiled and published by the Dagupan City Government during Mayor Benjie Lim’s administration.
“Dagupan was the setting of the heart-rending love story of Jose Rizal and his cousin, Leonor Rivera.
Rizal and Leonor met when he, as a student of the University of Sto. Tomas, became a boarder at her father’s house. They had kept their feelings to themselves, writing love notes to each other using pen names, Leonor signed her letter “Taimis.”
In l882, Rizal left for Spain to pursue studies in medicine, but not before bidding farewell to his sweetheart whom he promised to marry on his return. He was 21, and she was 15.
It was during Rizal’s first sojourn in Europe that Leonor’s parents discovered the relationship. Her mother was worried about her young daughter because Rizal had become a controversial figure as he was a leader of the reform movement in Europe.
After the publication of the Noli Me Tangere in 1887, Rizal returned to the country. He also wanted to see Leonor and find out why she had not been answering his letters.
Antonio Rivera and his wife Silvestra Bauzon, both from Camiling, Tarlac, had actually settled in Dagupan, with their daughter. This was also the time the Manila-Dagupan railway was being constructed.
In a letter he wrote from Belgium to his sister, Soledad, he confessed:
‘I am a man and the last time I returned there I was older, had more experience, more judgment than you and, above all, I had my engagements. You know very well that I should and could go to Pangasinan, that I had a formal engagement, and that was one of my greatest desires for years…’
Dr. Alejandro G. Venteres, a scion of the Venteres family who were the Riveras’ landlords in Dagupan, also wrote that Rizal came to visit Leonor in Dagupan.
‘From Rizal’s hometown, he would travel to Dagupan on a type of boat called paraw. The railroad was still under construction, knowing that Rizal was going to Europe, Leonor planned a party for him on the pretext of a raffle game. Rizal was so elated he was inspired to write a farewell poem with music. Rizal himself sang it. The song became so popular that many were heard singing it in the streets and during social gatherings.’
Once, the Riveras were invited to a party hosted by the Villamils. Antonio Rivera and Reginaldo Villamil were friends. Leonor was also a friend of Reginaldo’s daughter, Carmen.
Another guest at the party was a young and dashing engineer, Charles Kipping, who was supervising the construction of the Manila-Dagupan railroad. He was infatuated by the young Leonor, that ‘frail, beautiful girl, tender as budding flower with kindly wistful eyes.’
Leonor’s mother. Silvestra, noted the special attention Kipping gave her daughter. As she was impressed with his bearing and desirous to break up Leonor’s engagement with Rizal, she encouraged the Englishman’s pursuit of her daughter.
Maria Magsano wrote that Silvestra had bribed the town postmaster to intercept Rizal’s letters and turn them along with Leonor’s letters, over to her. Leonor discovered this when the postman committed a mistake of delivering Rizal’s letter to her. She confronted her mother who explained that marrying Kipping was for her own good, and that it was her filial duty to obey.
On June 17, 1891, Leonor and Kipping were married by Fr. Vicente Iztegui at the St. John Cathedral of Dagupan. They had only one child, a boy. In a letter, Leonor confessed to Rizal that she was unhappy and that she wouldn’t live long. She died on August 28, 1893 at age of 26.
(Readers may reach columnist at junmv@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/think-about-it/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)
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