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Teodora Alonso, the mother of Jose Rizal, was born on Nov. 9, 1827, in Manila. She was married to Francisco Mercado with whom she had 11 children. She was imprisoned in 1872 for allegedly planning to poison her sister-in-law and in 1891, she was forced to walk from Manila to Sta. Cruz town in Laguna, as punishment for not using her Hispanized surname Realonda de Rizal. She had insisted on using Alonso. She died in August 1911 at the age of 84. She did not live to see the Rizal monument in Luneta.—Schatzi Quodala, Inquirer Research