Events in History
February 17, 1872- Execution of Gomburza, an acronym for Fathers Mariano Gómez, José Apolonio Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora--three Filipino priests who were executed by Spanish colonial authorities on trumped-up charges of subversion arising from the 1872 Cavite mutiny.
December 30, 1896- Jose Rizal's execution (see above).
July 4, 1946- Official ceremonies proclaiming a fully-independent Republic of the Philippines were held on this site. The highlights of the event were the simultaneous lowering of the American Flag and raising of the Philippine flag to the tune of both nations' national anthems.
January 15, 1995- A Mass was held here by Pope John Paul II for the World Youth Day, with a crowd of 5 million, the biggest yet of all foreign papal Masses.
27 November 2005- Rizal Park was the venue of the opening ceremony for the 2005 Southeast Asian Games at the Quirino Grandstand. It was held at an open-air park instead of a stadium, a historic first for a Southeast Asian games' opening ceremony. It was again used on December 5, 2005 for the games' closing ceremony.
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