MANILA — Debate surrounding Jose Rizal's height has swirled over the past years, with one side saying it was 4'11" and another insisting it's 5'2".

Filipino historian and author Ambeth Ocampo is on the 5'2" club. His basis is the measurements of Rizal's clothes in the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

The 4'11" faction, however, did not buy this method.

Ocampo said that many people insisted, without evidence, that Rizal stood at 4'11". This claim was even used in the Ayala Museum, he said, adding that the museum has "since changed at my insistence."

But in a Facebook post on Wednesday, two days after the nation celebrated National Heroes Day, Ocampo announced that he had discovered the "definitive proof" of what really was the hero's height.

In a "eureka" moment, he said the evidence for the 5'2" side cropped up while he was filing his 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 wrote. "That translates to 5.28 feet or almost 5'3"!" he concluded.

"Oh, serendipity is one of the thrills of research."

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In a 2012 article titled "Rizal: The first emo?" historian Xiao Chua confirmed the debate surrounding Rizal's height.

He even mentioned that Ocampo "authoritatively" claimed that Rizal was 5'2", saying it was "average in comparison with his contemporaries."

"Regardless, what Jose lacked in appearance, he compensated with wanting to have not just a sound mind but a sound body," Chua wrote.

"He was an able fencer, a chess player who made his own sets, a body builder who trained with a dumbbell, which fitness experts proclaimed as being too heavy for his built, and an expert marksman."

Ocampo is the author of "Rizal Without the Overcoat," a collection of essays discussing trivia, insights, and facts about Rizal unknown to most people.

It also touches on the myths and rumors about the hero.

• Academics defend historian Ambeth Ocampo vs ‘smear campaign’

Ocampo on history and misinformation:

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