By Gabriela Baron
Filipino historian Ambeth Ocampo in a social media post on Wednesday, Aug. 31, revealed new evidence confirming national hero Jose Rizal’s height.
There have been debates and discussions regarding Rizal’s height – some estimate his height measures between 4’11 to 5’2″.
“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 in a Facebook post.
He added that his supposed height of 4’11 was even used in the Ayala Museum.
“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 continued.
However, while filing his scans of Rizal manuscripts, Ocampo found a proof of the polymath’s height.
“In one of his notebooks, Rizal himself said that at 19 years old and four days old he stood at one meter 61 centimeters. That translates to 5.28 feet or almost 5’3″!”
–ag
