(WARNING: This story has potentially upsetting content. Readers should exercise caution.)
Filipino historian Ambeth Ocampo took to social media on Monday and shared a small jar containing what he claimed to be fragments of the brain of national hero Jose Rizal.
He said majority of Rizal’s mortal remains are interred beneath the monument in Luneta, except for a portion of his backbone that is preserved in Fort Santiago.
The chipped bone is believed to mark the exact location where Rizal was struck by a bullet on December 30, 1896.
“I did not know till recently that Rizal’s eldest sister Saturnina kept fragments of the hero’s brain in a bottle. I presume the fragments were formerly preserved in alcohol that has since dried up,” he said in his post on July 3.
Ocampo added that he is still conducting research to uncover the story and context behind this significant relic.
He also thanked Britz Hamoy for the lead, and Dr. Francis Navarro, director of the Ateneo de Manila University Archives for showing the jar to him.
