MANILA, Philippines?Here?s a show biz trivia on National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal, whose martyrdom the country commemorates Tuesday:

The image of his mother, Teodora Alonzo, was shown on the big screen when moving pictures made their debut in Manila. The movie was titled ?Life and Death of Dr. Jose Rizal,? which was screened at the Grand Opera House on Aug. 24, 1912.

The movie was made a year after Alonzo died at the age of 84.

She was portrayed in ?Life and Death...? by Chananay Balbino, a zarzuela actress whom Dr. Rizal had seen perform in town fiestas and admired. She became one of his inspirations as a novelist, and was immortalized in his ?Noli Me Tangere.?

When she accepted the role of Teodora Alonzo, Balbino was already in her 50s ? a ?golden girl.?

Her name was given top billing on the theater marquee, side by side with that of the principal actor, Honorio Lopez, who portrayed Rizal.

?Nanay?

It is interesting to note that the last two syllables of Balbino?s first name ? ?na-nay? ? later became the Tagalog word for ?mother.? It was the word that Rizal uttered with heartbreaking endearment to Alonzo in the scene of their last embrace.

The movie?s story starts at the time that Rizal was condemned to death and Alonzo wrote to Governor-General Camilo de Polavieja, begging him to spare her son?s life because he was innocent of the charges brought against him.

Accompanied by her daughters and Josephine Bracken (portrayed by Titay Molina), Alonzo waited for hours until sunset at the gate of Malacañang for the governor-general to emerge from his office.

Blessing

When Polavieja walked by at last, a tearful Alonzo threw herself at his feet. But all her supplications was for naught and her beloved son did not get the pardon that she had pleaded for.

When the time came for Rizal to face the firing squad, all that Alonzo could give him were that final embrace and a mother?s blessing.

Teodora Alonzo outlived her son by 15 years, long enough to see him proclaimed National Hero of the Filipino People by the American regime.

She declined a government pension offered to her and, instead, preferred to live a quiet life, never complaining and, by all existing accounts, no longer embittered by her suffering. To many Filipinos, she remains to be Mother Courage herself, a woman of inner strength, faith and fortitude.