National hero Dr. Jose Rizal was, by his own measurement, over 5-foot-3 and not 4-foot-11 as most people believe, historian and columnist Ambeth Ocampo has shared on his Facebook account.
On one of his notebooks, Rizal wrote down his height—noting that at 19 years and four days old, he stood at 1.61 meters (about 5-foot-3 1/3), prompting Ocampo to note “Eureka!” on his FB page.
The historian posted the note Wednesday night, as Ocampo was filing his scans of manuscripts of the national hero—supporting his claim that Rizal in fact stood about four inches taller than many have believed.
“There has always been a debate about Jose Rizal’s height, with many people insisting, without evidence, that the hero stood at four feet eleven inches,” Ocampo said.
“The 4-11 club would not buy my method of measuring Rizal’s extant clothing in the National Historical Commission to estimate his height at around five feet two inches,” he added.
“Well, this evening, without my looking for it, the definitive proof for the 5-2 side cropped up while I was filing my scans of Rizal manuscripts. In one of his notebooks RIZAL HIMSELF said that at 19 years old and four days old he stood at one meter 61 centimeters,” Ocampo said in his post.
“That translates to 5.28 feet or almost 5’3″! Oh, serendipity is one of the thrills of research!!!” he added.
As of press time, the historian’s post has captured over 26,000 reactions and was shared nearly 8,000 times, as hundreds of netizens commented on their excitement for the new piece of information.