JOSE RIZAL, the national hero of the Philippines and pride of the Malayan race, was born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna. He was the seventh child in a family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls). Both his parents were educated and belonged to distinguished families. His father, Francisco Mercado Rizal, an industrious farmer whom Rizal called “a model of fathers,” came from Biñan, Laguna; while his mother, Teodora Alonzo y Quintos, a highly cultured and accomplished woman whom Rizal called “loving and prudent mother,” was born in Meisic, Sta. Cruz, Manila. More…..

http://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/jorizal.htm

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~fasawwu/resources/rizal/biography.htm

http://www.pantas.ph/lit-elib/rizal.html