Rizal’s First

Homecoming
(1887-1888)
Presented by: Abas S. Acmad
Daryl Tanguan
Group 2
Rizal’s plans of coming back home
• As early as 1884, Rizal wanted to go back to
the Philippines for the following reasons:
– Financial difficulties in Calamba
– Dissatisfaction with his studies in Madrid
– Desire to prove that there is no reason to fear
going home.
– His belief that the Spanish regime will not punish
the innocent.
 Decision to return home
• After five years of his memorable sojourn in
Europe, Rizal returned to the Philippines.

• However, Rizal was warned by the following not

to return to the Philippines because his Noli Me
Tangere angered the friars:
– Paciano Mercado – Rizal’s adviser and only brother.
– Silvestre Ubaldo – Rizal’s brother in law; husband of
Olimpia.
– Jose Ma. Cecilio (Chenggoy) – one of Rizal’s closest
friends.
• Rizal was determined to come back to the
Philippines for the following reasons:
– To operate his mother’s eyes
– To serve his people who had long been oppressed
by Spanish tyrants.
– To find out for himself how the Noli Me Tangere
and his other writings were affecting Filipinos and
Spaniards.
– To inquire why Leonor Rivera remained silent.
 Rizal arrives in Manila
• Rizal left Rome by train to Marseilles, a French
port and boarded Djemnah, the same steamer
that brought him to Europe five years ago.
• There were 50 passengers: 4 Englishmen, 2
Germans, 3 Chinese, 2 Japanese, 40 Frenchmen,
and 1 Filipino (Rizal)
• When the ship reached Aden, the weather
became rough and some of Rizal’s book got wet.
• In Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), Vietnam – he
transferred to another steamer, Haiphong, that
brought him to Manila.
 Happy Homecoming
• When Rizal arrived in Calamba, rumors spread that he
was a:
– German spy
– An agent of Otto Von Bismarck – the liberator of
Germany.
– A Protestant
– A Mason
– A soul halfway to damnation
• Paciano – did not leave him during the first days after
arrival to protect him from any enemy assault.
• Don Francisco – did not permit him to go out alone
 In Calamba
• Rizal established a medical clinic.
• Doña Teodora – was Rizal’s first patient
• Rizal treated her eyes but could not perform
any surgical operation because her cataracts
were not yet ripe.
• He painted several beautiful landscapes in
Calamba.
• He translated German poems of Von
Wildernath in Tagalog.
• Doctor Uliman – Rizal was called this name
because he came from Germany.
– He earned P900 in a few months and P5,000
before he left the Philippines.
• Gymnasium – was opened by Rizal for the
young people
• He introduced European sports fencing and
shooting to discourage them from
cockfighting and gambling.
 Sad moments while Rizal was in
Calamba
• Leonor Rivera – Rizal tried to visit her in Tarlac
but his parents forbade him to go because
Leonor’s mother did not like him for a son-in-
law.
• Olimpia Mercado-Ubaldo – died because of
child birth.
 Storm over the Noli Me Tangere
• As Rizal was peacefully living in Calamba, his enemies
plotted his doom.

• Governor General Emilio Terrero – wrote to Rizal

requesting to come to Malacañang Palace.
– Somebody had whispered to his ear that the Noli contains
subversive ideas.
– Rizal explained to him that he merely exposed the truth, but did
not advocate subversive ideas.
– He was pleased by Rizal’s explanation and curious about the
book, he asked for a copy of the novel.
– Rizal had no copy that time but promised to send one for him.
 Rizal visited the Jesuits
• Rizal visited the Jesuit fathers to ask for their
feedback on the novel.
• He was gladly welcomed by the following
friars:
– Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez
– Fr. Jose Bech
– Fr. Federico Faura – told Rizal that everything in
the novel was the truth and warned him that he
may lose his head because of it.
• Governor-General Emilio Terrero – a liberal
minded Spaniard who knew that Rizal’s life
was in jeopardy because the friars were
powerful.
– Because of this he gave Rizal a bodyguard to
protect him.
 Jose Taviel de Andrade
• A young Spanish
lieutenant who came
from a noble family
• He was cultured and
knew painting
• He could speak French,
English and Spanish.
• They became good
friends.
Attackers of the Noli
• Archbishop Pedro Payo
– a Dominican
• Archbishop of Manila
• Sent a copy of the Noli
to Fr. Gregorio
Echevarria, Rector of
the University of Santo
Tomas to examine the
novel.
 UST and Rizal
• The committee that examined the Noli Me
Tangere were composed of Dominican
professors.
• The report of the faculty members from UST
about the Noli states that the novel was:
– Heretical, impious and scandalous in the religious
orders, and anti-patriotic, subversive of pubic
order, injurious to the government of Spain and its
function in the Philippine Islands in the political
order.
• Governor-General Terrero – was not satisfied
with the report so he sent the novel to the
Permanent Commission of Censorship which was
composed of priests and lawyers.
• Fr. Salvador Font – Augustinian friar curate of
Tondo was the head of the commission.
– The group found that the novel contain subversive
ideas against the Church and Spain and
recommended that the importation, reproduction
and circulation of the pernicious book in the islands
be absolutely prohibited.
• The newspaper published Font’s written
report
• The banning of the Noli Me Tangere served to
make it popular
• The masses supported the book.
• Fr. Jose Rodriguez – Augustinian Prior of
Guadalupe
– Published a series of eight pamphlets under the
heading Questions of Supreme Interest to blast
the Noli and other anti-Spanish writing.
– Copies of anti-Rizal pamphlets were sold after
mass
– Many Filipinos were forced to buy them in order
not to displease the friars.
 Noli Me Tangere in Spain
• The novel was fiercely attacked in the session hall
of the Senate of the Spanish Cortes.
• Senators:
– General Jose de Salamanca
– General Luis de Pando
– Sr. Fernando Vida
• Vicente Barantes – Spanish academician of
Madrid who formerly occupied high government
position in the Philippines bitterly criticized the
novel in an article published in the Madrid
newspaper, La España Moderna.
Defenders of the Noli Me Tangere
• Propagandists such as Marcelo H. del Pilar,
Graciano Lopez-Jaena, Antonio Ma. Regidor,
Mariano Ponce rushed to uphold the truths of
the Noli.
• Father Francisco de Paul Sanchez – Rizal’s
favorite teacher in Ateneo defended and praised
the novel in public.
• Don Segismundo Moret – former Minister of the
Crown.
• Prof. Miguel Morayta- historian and stateman
• Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt – Rizal’s best friend
• Rev. Fr. Vicente Garcia – a Filipino Catholic
priest-scholar, a theologian of the Manila
Cathedral and a Tagalog translator of the
famous Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis.
– Under the pen name Justo Desiderio Magalang he
wrote a defense of the novel published in
Singapore.
• Rizal cried because of his gratitude to his
defenders especially to Fr. Garcia who defended
him unexpectedly.
• He attacked Barantes by exposing his ignorance
of Philippine affairs and mental dishonesty which
is unworthy of an academician.
• Because of the interest of both enemies and
protectors of the Noli the price of the book
increased from five pesetas per copy to 50
pesetas per copy.
 Agrarian Problem in Calamba
• Influenced by the novel, Governor-General
Emilio Terrero ordered a government
investigation of the friar estates to remedy
whatever inequities might have been present
in connection with land taxes and with tenant
relations.
• One of the friar estates affected was the
Calamba hacienda by the Dominican order
since 1883.
• Upon hearing about the investigation, the
people of Calamba asked helped from Rizal to
gather facts and list the grievances so that the
government might institute certain agrarian
reforms.
 Findings submitted by Rizal
• The hacienda of the Dominican Order comprised
not only the lands around Calamba, but the
whole town of Calamba.
• The profits of the Dominican Order continually
increased because of the arbitrary increase of he
rentals paid by the tenants.
• The hacienda owner never contributed a single
centavo for the celebration of the town fiesta, for
the education of the children, and for the
improvement of agriculture.
• Tenants who spent much labor in clearing the
lands were dispossessed of the said lands for
flimsy reasons
• High rates of interest were arbitrarily charged
the tenants for delayed payment of rentals
• When the rentals could not be paid, the
hacienda management confiscated the work
animals, tools, and farm implements of the
tenants.
 Friars Reaction
• Rizal’s exposure to the deplorable condition
angered the friars.
• The friars exerted pressure to Malacañang to
eliminate Rizal.
• They asked Gov. Gen. Terrero to deport Rizal but
the latter refused for there is lack of charges
against Rizal in court.
• Anonymous threats in Rizal’s life alarmed his
parents, siblings, Andrade his bodyguard, friends,
and even Terrero, thus they all advised him to
leave the country.
 Rizal’s reasons for leaving the
Philippines
• His presence in Calamba was jeopardizing the
safety and happiness of his family and friends.
• He could not fight better his enemies and
serve his country’s cause with greater efficacy
by writing in foreign countries.
 Himno Al Trabajo
• A poem for Lipa – shortly before Rizal left in
1888, he was asked by a friend to write a
poem in commemoration of the town’s
cityhood.
• Himno Al Trabajo (Hymn To Labor) – title of
the poem dedicated to the industrious people
of Lipa.
 Farewell Philippines
• On February 3, 1888 Rizal left his country with
a heavy heart.
• But this is for his own good and the safety of
his family and friends.