Jose Rizal was a man of incredible intellectual power, with amazing artistic talent as well. He excelled at anything that he put his mind to - medicine, poetry, sketching, architecture, sociology... the list seems nearly endless.
Thus, Rizal's martyrdom by the Spanish colonial authorities while he was still quite young was a huge loss to the Philippines, and to the world at large.
Today, the people of the Philippines honor him as their national hero.
