Soledad Rizal: The Hero's Controversial Sister

She was the last of eleven children born to Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado and Teodora Alonso Realonda, arriving in Calamba, Laguna in 1870 into a household that had already survived more turmoil than most families see in a generation. Soledad - "Choleng" to her family - grew up as the baby sister of the man who would become the Philippines' foremost national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. Her own life, though far less documented than his, carries two distinct strands of "controversy": one she lived through in the late 1880s, when her choice of husband openly disturbed her family's peace, and one that surfaced generations later, when a descendant's account cast doubt on who her parents really were.