RIZAL DID NOT RETRACT

 The retraction document is said to be forgery

o Several critics noted differences between the text of the document found in 1935 and
other versions of the Retraction including the one issued by Father Balaguer
o There is a confession of ‘the forger’ Antonio K. Abad who said that on August 31,
1901 at a party at his ancestral home in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, a ‘Ramon Roque’
told him that he was employed by the friars earlier the same year to make several
copies of a retraction document.
o The document was not made public until 1935. Even the members of the family did
not see it. The letter was allegedly passed to the Archbishop and they will never see
it. When asked to the Jesuits, they said that they lost the document
o The document was kept secret and was only furnished to newspaper but nobody ever
saw the original
 Rizal’s burial was kept secret; he was buried outside the walls of Paco cemetery where
infidels are buried, and not in the Catholic Cemetery
 The family was informed that after 11 days, a mass for the deceased will be held. Though
the family was in attendance, the mass was never celebrated and the letter was never
shown
 There is no marriage certificate or public record of the marriage of Rizal to Bracken
o Balaguer allegedly married the two at 6:00am-6:25am the day of Rizal’s
execution. He said that Rizal’s sisters were there as witnesses. But the family
claimed that none of them were at Fort Santiago that morning.
o Nobody saw Josephine Bracken at Fort Santiago on the day of the execution
o In the legal register of Hongkong, Josephine used the last name “Bracken” instead
of “Rizal” to be married to Vicente Abad
 The apparent discovery of the autobiography of Josephine Bracken claiming her marriage
with Rizal, showed a handwriting that bore no resemblance to Josephine’s and had
glaring errors and syntax. It was revealed that the perpetrating author’s primary language
was Spanish which was not Josephine’s original language
 Balaguer’s retraction claim was not corroborated by the two Jesuits who were present at
Rizal’s retraction
 No masses were said for his soul or funeral by the Catholics
 Balaguer himself was not present at the execution to prove his claims
 Rizal’s last poem “Mi Ultimo Adios” contains writings saying “Adios, I go where there
are no slaves, no hangmen or oppressors, where faith does not kill”. It was very evident
that he was referring to the Catholic Church
 In Rizal’s 6:00 am communication with his mother, he never said anything about the
retraction
 Baron Fernandez, a Spanish orphan, discovered documents stating that before Rizal’s
execution, he told his sister Narcisa to look inside his shoes because he had left a letter.
This letter contained denial of his retraction as he was just forced by the friars.