About this Holiday
Rizal Day commemorates the execution of Dr. Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda on December 30, 1896 by Spanish colonial authorities at Luneta Park in Manila, now called Rizal Park. Jose Rizal was a polymath, ophthalmologist, artist, and reformist writer whose novels 'Noli Me Tangere' and 'El Filibusterismo' exposed the abuses of Spanish colonial rule and ignited the spirit of the Philippine independence movement. He is revered as the preeminent national hero of the Philippines, honored with a monument at Rizal Park where state ceremonies are held annually on his feast day.