Some days after Rizal's return to Calamba, his parents decided that he should remain in the town and that later, he should go to Manila. He wanted to study with a teacher of the town, even though he could learn no more than multiplication, so he entered the village school.
At this time, Rizal's uncle, Don Jose Alberto, returned from Europe. Don Jose found that during his absence, his wife had left his home and abandoned their children. The poor man anxiously sought his wife and, at Rizal's mother Teodora's request, Don Jose took her back. They went to live in Biñan. However, a few days later, the ungrateful woman plotted with a Guardia Civil and accused her husband of poisoning her, then charged that Teodora was his accomplice. On this charge, the alcalde sent Rizal's mother to prison.
All nine brothers and sisters were bereft. Their mother's arrest, they knew, was unjust. The men who arrested her pretended to be friends and had often been their guests. From that moment on, child though he was, Rizal distrusted friendship.
They learned later that their mother, away from them all and along in years, was ill. From the first, the alcalde had believed the accusation. He was unfair in every way and treated Teodora rudely, even brutally. Finally, he persuaded her to confess to what they wished by promising to set her free and to let her see her children if she did so. What mother could resist that? They threatened to condemn her if they didn't say what they wished. She finally lost her spirit and submitted to the will of her enemies. The case became involved until the same alcalde asked pardon for her, however, this was done only when the matter was already before the Supreme Court. He asked for the pardon because he regretted what he had done. Such was his meanness that Rizal felt afraid of him. Attorneys Francisco de Marcaida and Manuel Masigan, Manila's leading lawyers, defended Teodora and they finally succeeded in having her acquitted. They proved her innocence to the judges, her accusers and her hosts of enemies. But after how long a delay? -- After two and a half years.
Meanwhile Rizal's father decided to send him to Manila with his brother Paciano. Rizal was to take the entrance examinations for the secondary course in the Ateneo Municipal. He arrived in Manila on June 10, 1872. He found out for the first time what examinations were like. They were on Christian doctrine, arithmetic and reading, in San Juan de Letran College. They gave him a passing mark and he returned home. A few days later was the celebration of the town festival, after which he went back to Manila. But even then, he felt that unhappiness was just around the corner.
Source: Rizal's Own Story of His Life