José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, Philippine patriot, author, poet, and physician, was born 19 June 1861 in Calamba, Laguna Province, Luzon. After studies in Manila, Paris, Berlin, Heidelberg, and Leipzig, Rizal published his first novel in 1886. The publication of the book, a violent attack on Spanish administration in the Philippines, led to Rizal's arrest and deportation. He subsequently lived in China, Japan, Britain, France, and the United States, publishing poetry and a second novel. After settling in Hong Kong to practice medicine, Dr. Rizal returned to Manila in 1892 only to be arrested as a revolutionary agitator and banished to Dapitan on Mindanao. While attempting to leave Mindanao for Cuba in 1896, Rizal was again arrested and taken to Manila where he was given a farcical trial and sentenced to death. A figure of inspiration and hope to the Filipino world, Dr. José Rizal is remembered by an imposing monument in Manila which marks the spot where he fell before the firing squad on 30 December 1896