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The legend of J.R.
By Ambeth Ocampo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

URBAN legends in Philippine history fascinate me. While some people search for the "White Lady" of Balete Drive or Robina Gokongwei's "snake twin" lurking in department store dressing rooms, I try to find the elusive "kapre" that lives in an ancient mango tree near the Emilio Aguinaldo house in Kawit town or Andres Bonifacio's love child from a place aptly named Libog (now Santo Domingo) in Albay province. It was thus stupid of me to presume that the most incredible Jose Rizal urban legend was that he was the father of Adolf Hitler, the result of an indiscretion with a prostitute in Vienna. The most current urban legend is that Rizal was Jack the Ripper!

Textbook history tells us that Rizal was in London from May 1888 to January 1889, in the British Library copying "Sucesos de las islas Filipinas" by hand because there were no photocopying machines at the time. Jack the Ripper was active around this time, and since we do now know what Rizal did at night or on the days he was not
in the library, some people would like to believe Rizal is suspect. They argue that when Rizal left London, the Ripper murders stopped. They say that Jack the Ripper must have had some medical training, based on the way his victims were mutilated. Rizal, of course, was a doctor. Jack the Ripper liked women, and so did our own Rizal. And -- this is so obvious that many overlooked it -- Jose Rizal's initials match those of Jack the Ripper!

For someone who wrote a great deal on the most ordinary things, Rizal only made passing reference to Jack the Ripper in an essay on the Guardia Civil he wrote in the April 30, 1890 issue of La Solidaridad. Can this be added to the flimsy but growing list of circumstantial evidence to make Rizal a suspect?

If you open the Jack the Ripper website, you will find Rizal's name on the long list of suspects. There is even a forum dedicated to Rizal, begun by a certain "Amateursleuth" who signs in allegedly from Canada and signs the postings "Karen." Her first posting lists the following data:

"In 1888, he was staying with the Beckett family at 37 Chalcot Crescent in Camden [London]; He was a doctor (ophthalmologist); He was good with weapons (was called 'the swordsman'); He was a Malay; He was proficient in the martial arts; He would have been 27 at the time of the Ripper killings; He was short, had dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyes; He came from a well to do family, was well dressed and looked respectable; He came to London on May 24, 1888 on the ship City of Rome; He left London in January of 1889, and the Ripper killings stopped; He was multi-talented (could speak many languages, was a writer, poet, author, sculptor, artist); He was executed in the Philippines on December 30, 1896 at the age of 35; Had a romantic relationship with Gertrude Beckett-the daughter of Charles Beckett; He wrote letters to his friend Blumentritt from London, however there were no letters written to his family or friends from July 1888-Nov. 14, 1888; After he died, his mother tried to procure his assets which consisted of some pretty nice jewelry, including gold cuff links and other baubles of diamonds and amethysts (gold chain with a red stone seal?); I think this man warrants further investigation, which I intend to do."

She provided a photo of Rizal from an Argentine website leading a certain Glenn Andersson, writer and historian, to remark:

"An interesting character; good luck with the research and come back with more when you can. With such South American features, I doubt that he fits in well with the possible sightings, but then on the other hand, we can't be sure that any of those witnesses saw the Ripper anyway. After all, foreign suspects from those parts were under investigation by the police at the time."

Then somebody remarked that Rizal was in Paris at the time one of the victims, Annie Chapman, was cut up leading "Karen" to reply:

"OK, maybe he didn't kill Annie Chapman, but he had a friend called Dr. Antonio Regidor who could have killed her. Rizal stayed with him in London prior to moving in with the Becketts. Dr. Regidor was also from Manila. They were quite close."

It was also noted that one of the Ripper victims was buried in the same cemetery where Regidor and his family presently lie in peace. Karen later added:

"Since Dr. Rizal was in Paris between Sept. 4 and Sept. 10, 1888, it is therefore impossible for him to have killed Annie Chapman. However, after some digging, I discovered that Rizal had a good friend named Dr. Reinhold Rost who lived approximately 1 block from the Becketts' at 1 Elsworthy Terrace, Camden."

The most incredible piece of information-and absolutely untrustworthy-is that some time in January 1986, the present owners of the London apartment Rizal stayed in discovered a trunk in their attic that contained a diary where Rizal confesses to the Whitechapel murders and a glass jar with half a human kidney preserved in alcohol!

All these tales are ridiculous, but in life and death Rizal continues to fascinate, and tales continue to be spun around him, keeping him current and interesting a century after his execution.