Laguna Day

The holiday marks the anniversary of the birth of Dr. José Rizal - June 19, 1861. He was a Filipino educator and scholar, Spanish-speaking poet and writer, polyglot, painter and sculptor of Tagalog-Chinese origin.

According to an acrostic poem written in an article of The Medical Philosopher (Raymond Oliver Cruz in real life), Jose Rizal's I.Q is estimated to be in the 150-160 point range of the Guassian bell curve. To put into the I.Q. scale, Rizal is considered as a highly gifted individual.

His only two novels, Noli me tangere (1887) and El filibusterismo (1891), which are Rizal's best known works, became essential manuals for members of the Philippine inde- pendence movement. He was a polyglot. He was fluent in 22 languages: Hebrew, Filipino, Ilokano, Bisayan, Subanon, Chinese, Latin, Spanish, Greek, English, French, German, Arabic, Malay, Sanskrit, Dutch, Japanese, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian. He was also a polymath, a man of many professions.