Segunda Katigbak: Jose Rizal's First Love

© 2013-present by Jensen DG. Mañebog

 

She was Jose Rizal’s “puppy love” and with her the hero was believed to have had “love at first sight”.

 

 

Rizal was 16 years old when one Sunday in 1887 he paid visit to his maternal grandmother in Trozo, Manila and there met, among others, Segunda Katigbak, a two-year-younger-than-him ‘colegiala’.

 

In his ‘Memorias de Un Estudiante de Manila’, Rizal graphically described her as a short lady with “eloquent eyes, rosy cheeks, and smile that reveals very beautiful teeth”. Mariano Katigbak, Segunda’s brother and Rizal’s classmate who was also in the house, probably had no idea that his friend had been experiencing “a love at first sight” being bewitched by his alluring sister.

 

During the 1880s, the Katigbaks of Batangas were known for their successful and very lucrative coffee industry. When Jose met Segunda, she was at the time a boarding student of La Concordia College where Rizal’s sister Olympia was also studying.

 

Jose and Segunda got to know each other more intimately as his visits to his sister Olympia (or rather to his love interest Segunda) in La Concordia surprisingly became more frequent.

 

How could Rizal forget that incident when he was urged by other acquaintances and conformed to make a pencil sketch of Segunda? “From time to time”, he later recorded in his diary, “she looked at me, and I blushed.”

 

When Segunda one day gave him a white artificial rose she had made herself at school, he gave her in exchange that pencil sketch he had drawn of her. (Related: Segunda Katigbak and Jose Rizal)

 

In hindsight, we can submit that Rizal was somewhat clueless and naïve. As in the song “Paper Roses,” the artificial flower was perhaps Segunda’s way of insinuating that their affection was hopeless from the very start.

 

The ‘rumor’ that she had been engaged to be married to a fellow-townsman, Manuel Luz, even before she met Pepe, was all along true. Rizal’s discovery of the real score later was probably his major reason, being a man of delicadeza, why he did not propose to her, more than his being ‘torpe’ or a reluctant lover ... (CONTINUE READING: Segunda Katigbak: Her cheesy last meeting with Jose Rizal)
 

© 2013-present by Jensen DG. Mañebog

Rizal's Life, Works, and Writings: Online Syllabus and Articles

Jensen DG. Mañebog, the contributor, is a book author and professorial lecturer in the graduate school of a state university in Metro Manila. His unique e-books on Rizal (available online) comprehensively tackle, among others, the respective life of Rizal’s parents, siblings, co-heroes, and girlfriends. (e-mail: jensenismo@gmail.com)

 

To leave comments, click first the ‘Like’ button above (if you have not clicked yet).

Use the 'Share' button below or the ‘Send’ button above to invite friends to read this article.

 

TAGS: Jose Rizal, Girlfriend, Segunda Katigbak, History, Philippine Studies, Filipino Heroes, Segunda Katigbak: Jose Rizal's First Love; Segunda Katigbak: Jose Rizal's First Love

 

Try our SEARCH ENGINE (upper right section) for your RESEARCH and other interesting entries.

 

Use #SegundaKatigbak and #JoseRizalGirlfriend in commenting here.