Cinco,Reymond John C. December 8, 2014
CEIT-02-401p Prof. Kathleen Ryan A. Besonia
“SEGUNDA KATIGBAK”
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. 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. It was also at La Concordia where the young lovers talked to each other for the last time. It was a romantic day in December 1877 when the confused Rizal came to see the ever-hopeful Segunda. Rizal said goodbye because he would spend his New Year vacation in his hometown starting the following day. Segunda replied that she was also going home to Lipa a day later. She then maintained silence, perhaps giving Rizal enough opportunity to say anything romantic, especially that sweetest tri-syllabic pronouncement which a lover would want to hear from a beloved. To her surprise, Rizal indeed uttered a three-syllable statement. The young Rizal said, “Well, good-bye” (which is virtually equivalent to today’s cold text message “Ah ok” plus a smiley). “Anyway—I’ll see you when you pass Calamba on your way to Lipa”, he nevertheless promised. Rizal went home to Calamba and woke up the following day determined to fulfill his promise to Segunda. The steamer carrying Segunda anchored in Biñan so Jose saddled his white horse to wait at the road. When Segunda’s carromata passed by, she smiled and waved her handkerchief to him. Initially wanting to follow, Rizal at the last minute turned his horse around and decided to ride home instead. That incident marked the end of everything between the young lovers. Segunda returned to Batangas and in due time married Don Manuel Luz y Metra who also hailed from a prominent family in Batangas. Segunda’s husband was actually the nephew of her maternal grandmother. The Luz-Katigbak ancestral house called ‘Casa de Segunda’, an old ‘bahay-na-bato’ which survived the World War II bombings, still exists today in Lipa on a street ironically named ‘Calle Rizal’. The house was restored as a vacation house and later turned into a private museum. The sportscaster Chino Trinidad, a descendant of Segunda and Manuel, once related in a TV interview that Rizal had gone to ‘Casa de Segunda”, played chess and lost to his Lolo Manuel. The historic house has been declared a National Heritage house in 1996 by the National Historical Commission.

“LEONOR VALENZUELA”
Nicknamed Orang, Leonor Valenzuela was commonly described as a tall girl with regal bearing who was Rizal’s province-mate. She was the daughter of Capitan Juan and Capitana Sanday Valenzuela, who were from Pagsanjan, Laguna. Orang was Rizal’s neighbor when he boarded in the house of Doña Concha Leyva in Intramuros during his sophomore year at the Universityof Santo Tomasas medicine student. To finally move on perhaps from his unsuccessful love story with Segunda Katigbak, Rizal frequently visited Orang’s house with or without social gatherings. The proofs that Rizal indeed courted her were the love letters he sent her. His love notes were mysteriously written in invisible ink made of common table salt and water, which could be read by heating the note over a candle or lamp.
More than a manifestation of Rizal’s knowledge of chemistry, his magical love notes to Orang, one can say, are a proof that he wanted to keep the courtship private. But why would he want to make it secret? Many references declare that Orang was Rizal’s object of affection (too) while he was courting the other Leonor, his cousin Leonor Rivera. If this were true, then sending invisible love letters would indeed be the smart thing to do for other people would find them as mere blank papers. Without clear material evidence, the ‘two-timer charge’ could indeed be easily denied. (To do a further speculative stretch, Rizal was perhaps thinking that if both ladies would become his girlfriends, he would not make the mistake of calling any of them by a wrong name.) When Rizal left for Spain, he received a letter from his friend and confidant Jose M. Cecilio (Chenggoy) indicating that the two ladies had an idea that their ‘common denominator’ was not only their first name:
“…nagpipilit ang munting kasera (Leonor Rivera) na makita si Orang, pero dahil natatakpan ng isang belong puti, hindi naming nakilala nang dumaan ang prusisyon sa tapat ng bahay. Sinabi sa akin ni O(rang) na sabihin ko raw sa munting kasera na hindi siya kumakaribal sa pag-iibigan ninyo. Que gulay, tukayo, anong gulo itong idinudulot natin sa mga dalagang ito!” The letter suggests that either Orang was giving way to Rivera-Rizal love affair or she (Orang) was not that interested in Rizal. In fact, records were not clear if she officially reciprocated Rizal’s courtship. If indeed she never took Rizal’s courtship seriously, we could not actually blame her. Her would-be affair with Rizal could only be either a rebound relationship (from Segunda-Jose failed affair) or an unhealthy love triangle (with the other Leonor in the equation). Unlike her ‘tukayo’, Orang didn’t feel much sorrow upon Rizal’s departure. She was said to have accepted other suitors, attended social parties, and ended up marrying an employee of a trade house.