“STRUGGLE AGAINST DARKNESS:

MORGA’S SUCESOS and LA SOLIDARIDAD”

▲Rizal’s second travels
BY MANOLO O. VAÑO abroad. From Manila
and then to Japan, the
United States, and
England 1888
[Taken from The Essential Rizal: Patriot, Thinker and Believer
Quezon City Giraffe Books 1997 pp. 34-45]

Let us see what history says: “Uprisings and revolutions have always occurred in countries under tyrannical
governments, under those thought and the human heart are compelled to keep silent… History does not record any
enduring dominion of one people over another, of different races, of diverse usages and customs, of opposite or divergent
ideas.”

(J. Rizal, The Philippines a Century Hence).

“… at least it [El Filibusterismo]is more profound; “this second part is more important than the first.”

(J. Rizal, Letter to Jose Maria Basa, May 1891).

Sayonara

Rizal’s first stop-over after leaving

Manila for the second time was Hongkong.
From there, he wrote: “Without the
sympathies of the Governor General, the
directors of the civil administration and
civil government, I would now be in
dungeon. All the heads of the Religious
Orders and the archbishop went daily to the
Governor General to complain against
me.” In Hongkong there were several
Filipinos who had fled from implication in
the 1872 Cavite mutiny in their country.
One of them was Jose Maria Basa, a Whether the Spanish authorities had employed a Japanese
lawyer who became a successful businessman. He was girl to capture Rizal’s heart is a question which is now
devoted to the Filipino cause and had great interest in difficult to answer. But one afternoon and in the
Rizal’s work. following afternoon, “Rizal saw a pretty Japanese girl
walking past the legation gate,” Gregorio Zaide and his
Before he left Hongkong, the Spanish authorities in the fellow researcher said. When he introduced himself in
Philippines had sent orders to Hongkong and Yokohama halting Japanese to the girl, who was a descendant of a
to watch his movements and, if possible, to lure him into noble family and a samurai’s daughter, she replied in
staying in one of these places in order to immobilize him. English for he could speak English and French. He was
So when he went to Yokohama, a Spanish official attracted to her and they became friends. As they visited
promptly contacted him and politely invited him to stay at temples and art galleries together and drank tea together,
the Spanish Legation. Not only was he given whatever their friendship blossomed into love. Her name was Usui
assistance he needed, but he was also offered a Legation Seiko but he called her O-Sei-San.
appointment. It was an offer of a career and an easy life
which he turned down for the sake of his country.

His heart was forcing him to settle down in Japan, but

his reason would not allow him to abandon his mission.

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Although he had given his heart to a lovely Japanese girl,
his soul still belonged to his country and he had continue
his journey to the West where the battle of ideas had to be
fought before they would descend into the arena to be
dyed with blood. When he left, he expressed his feelings
for O-Sei-San in his diary: “No woman like you has ever
sacrificed for me. Like the cherry blossom that falls from
its stem…, thus you fell… Sayonara, sayonara!... [Your]
image accompanies and animates my thoughts.” Leaving
Japan required a great sacrifice on his part.
In the United States, he took the train from San Francisco
to New York where he took a boat to England. His
impression of America was one of contrast: it did not
have the true civil liberty due to racial discrimination but
“it offers a home to the poor who wish to work.” His first
real destination in his second trip to Europe was London
where he planned to establish, on the basis of existing
historical accounts, the existence of civilization in the
Philippines before the coming of the Spaniards. In
London, he stayed for a short time as guest at the home of
Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor, a Filipino exile of 1872. By
the end of May, he decided to stay and board in the house
of the Becket family.
Morga’s Sucesos
Then he went to Dr. Reinhold Rost, the librarian of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Rost, who was impressed
by his learning and character, recommended him to the
authorities of the
British Museum,
where he found a
copy of Morga’s
Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas. Rizal had
read the accounts of
some events in the
Philippines by
Pigafetta, Gaspar de
San Agustin, Martin
de Rada and Chirino,
but he had
misgivings about One of the reading rooms of the British Museum where Rizal annotated
each of these Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
accounts and thought
of writing his own on the basis of a critical reading of all
existing accounts and other evidences. But, when he saw
Morga’s work, he said: “Morga is a modern scholarly
explorer. He does not have the superficiality and
exaggeration which are found among Spaniards today. He
writes simply, but one has to read between the lines…”
He, therefore, decided instead to publish a new edition of
it with his own annotations.
Morga was once a Judge of the Real Audencia and
one-time acting Governor-General of the Philippines.
Thus, Rizal found it necessary to clarify and amplify a
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number of statements in his work, such as in the
following example.
Morga: “…Their laws throughout the Islands were
along similar lines following the traditions and customs of
their ancients in accordance with the written statutes. In
some provinces, there were different customs in certain
things, although generally speaking, they had uniform
usages and procedures throughout the Islands.”
Rizal: “… This agreement of the laws at bottom and this
general uniformity prove that the relations of the islands
among themselves were very strong and the bonds of
friendship were more common than wars and differences.
Perhaps a confederation existed, for we know through the
first Spaniards that the ruler of Manila was a
generalissimo of the Sultan of Borneo.”
In other cases, the annotations were intended to rectify
Morga, such as when Rizal wrote: “As to the rest, the
priest-historians relating the missions in the first year of
Christianization, give numerous examples of chastity of
young women who resisted and preferred death to
surrendering to the violence and threats of the soldiers
and encomenderos… [The] history of prostitution in
Christian Europe, and above all in the Rome of the popes,
prove that in this matter there is no nation that can throw
the first stone;” Catholicism not only did not free the
poor class from the tyranny of the oppressor but with its
coming to the Philippines, it increased the number of
tyrants;” “Christ came
to the world to teach
the doctrine of love
and hope that may
console the poor in his
misery.”
Blumentritt, in his
prologue to Rizal’s
Annotations of
Morga’s Sucesos,
commended the author
for his fine historical
scholarship. However,
he pointed out two
“errors” committed by
modern historians: (1) judging the events of the past in the
light of contemporary ideas; and (2) the abuses of the
friars should not be construed to mean that Catholicism is
bad. With regards to the first “error,” one can say that the
friars also had committed it. With regards to the second,
Rizal only said that Catholicism is not free from defects
which does not mean that it is bad.
La Solidaridad
The Filipinos in Barcelona founded on 15 February
1889 the patriotic fortnightly newspaper La Solidaridad,
with Pablo Rianzares as financier and Graciano Lopez
Jaena as editor.
As organ of the Propaganda Movement, its aims were
(1) to adopt and defend liberal ideas and progress; (2) to
portray the deplorable conditions of the Philippines so
that Spain may remedy them; (3) to work peacefully for
political and social reforms, such as representation in the
Spanish Cortes, freedom of thought and speech, and right
of assembly; (4) to combat medievalism and reaction; (5)
assimilation. In a letter, Rizal congratulated Lopez Jaena
and reminded him, “Should we tell the truth we shall have
won our cause because reason and justice are on our
side.”
In February 1889, Rizal’s pamphlet The Vision of Fr.
Rodriguez, written under the pen name of “Dimas Alang”
was published in Barcelona. In this satire, which was his
answer to the friar’s attack on
Noli, St. Augustine is
commissioned by God to
order Fr. Rodriguez to
continue writing extremely
foolish antics as the penalty
for his stupidity. In March,
Rizal left London for Paris.
The reason for his transfer
was a young lady named
Gertrude, the daughter of the
organist of St. Paul’s Church
who owned his boarding The British Museum where Rizal spent most of his time while in
house in London. He wrote: London. His most important work in the British capital was his
“I should not commit the annotation of Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.
indignity of seduction in
exchange for a pure and virginal love.”
In Paris, the influence of Masonry on him was evident
in his formation of a Filipino organization called Indios
Bravos, a name intended to make the Filipinos proud of
their race as distinct from that of the Spaniards, during the
Universal Exposition which attracted thousands of
tourists. Within this organization was a secret inner group
whose purpose was concealed by its code letters Rd. L.M.
(which in reality stood for: Redencion de los Malayos,
Redemption of the Malays). Its members were Jose
Rizal, Jose Ma. Basa, Julio Llorente, Mariano Ponce,
Marcelo H. del Pilar, Gregorio Aguilera, Baldomero
Roxas and Father Jose Maria Changco. The members
pledged to liberate the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia and
Malaya.
Although his first article published in La Solidaridad
was written in London, his succeeding articles were
written in Paris, Brussels and Madrid. In The Truth for
All, he said, “The miseries of the people without freedom
should not be imputed to the people but to their rulers.”
In A Profanation, he pointed out the injustice done by the
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friars to Mariano Herbosa who was denied ecclesiastical
burial because he was Rizal’s brother-in-law.” In The
Philippines a Century Hence, he made his predictions:
“The Philippines, then, either will remain under Spain but
with more rights and freedom, or will declare itself
independence after staining herself and the Mother
Country in her own blood.” In F. Pi y Margall: The
Struggles of Our Time, he quotes the author: “It seemed to
me even ridiculous to admit that God … would have
agreed to come down to the uterus of a woman to save us
and to subvert … the constant laws of nature.”
In addition to his various articles in La Solidaridad,
which was the Filipino reformists’ organ of propaganda,
he also wrote the pamphlet Por Telepono using his pen
name Dimas Alang. This witty satire, which ridicules Fr.
Font for attacking Noli and which was published in
Barcelona in the fall
of 1889, predicted 12
years ahead that
people would carry
overseas
conversations through
radio telegraph
signals. In January
1890, Morga’s
Sucesos with his
Annotations was
published in Paris.
All these writings and
his first novel
contributed to his
prestige in his country
as evident in the numerous articles attacking him in La
Voz Española in Manila, the organ of the friars.
He moved to Brussels in order to economize so that he
could publish his El Filibusterismo. In Manila, the friars
retaliated by forcing Governor-General Weyler to order a
detachment of artillery to evict the tenant-farmers from
their homes and farms in Calamba, including Rizal’s
parents. Paciano, his brothers-in-law and others, who had
sent an appeal because the liberals were out of power and,
although they expressed their sympathy and concerns in
newspapers, they could do no more. About this time, an
article in La Epocha signed by the Spanish journalist
Wesceslao Retana averred that Rizal’s family and friends
in Calamba were evicted because they had not paid their
rents. Rizal who had superior skill in shooting and
fencing, immediately send his seconds to Retana to
challenge him to a duel. To prevent the duel from
happening, Retana published a retraction of his article and
apologized.

Towards the end
of August, the
Filipinos held a reunion in Madrid. Antonio Luna
became drunk and uttered unsavory remarks about
Nellie Boustead with Wenceslao Retana was
whom he had a challenged by Rizal to a duel
frustrated romance. by publishing an article that
Angered by his Rizal’s family was evicted
from their home in Calamba
remarks, Rizal for non payment of rent.
challenged him to a
duel but their compatriots pacified them and Luna
apologized when he became sober. In December, Rizal
received a letter from his sweetheart Leonor informing
him of her coming marriage to an Englishman. What he
did not know was that Leonor had not received his letter
because her mother had bribed a clerk in the post office to
intercept their letter. Sorrow filled his heart and he cried
in desolation, but Leonor thought he had forgotten her.
In Madrid, where he was holding his office, Marcelo
H. del Pilar had taken over the proprietorship and
editorship of La Solidaridad. Eleven years older than
Rizal, he had courageously conducted an anti-friar
campaign in Bulacan and had written articles in defense
of Noli. But, although they were collaborators and friends,
their presence in Madrid divided the Filipinos into two
camps on the question of who should have the final say in
the direction of La Solidaridad. For Rizal, La
Solidaridad was not radical enough for he was already
beginning to realize that Spain would not give in to the
demands for reforms. Moreover, those who sided with del
Pilar found Rizal too uncompromising in his admonition
against idleness, gambling, womanizing and drinking.
An election was held. On the first two balloting, the
leaders failed to obtain the required two-third vote. On
the third, he won but he finally decided to relinquish his
leadership in Europe. He then proceeded to Biarittz for he
had been invited by the Boustead family to spend time
with them in that French resort city where they had a
house. Its owner was a wealthy Anglo-Filipino who had
married a Filipina with whom he had two daughters,
Adelina and Nellie.
Nellie was charming,
intelligent, an heiress of a
fortune and very religious.
Due to the first two qualities
listed, he fell in love with
her and planned to propose
marriage. But she required
as a condition for their
marriage his conversion to
Protestanism; moreover, it
seemed to him that her
mother doubted his ability
to support a family. Finally,
Antonio Luna was also he told Nellie that he was
challenged by Rizal to a duel obliged to return to his
because Luna uttered unsavoury country because he was
remarks towards Nellie needed there.
Boustead. Antonio was the
brother of Juan Luna the painter.
El Filibusterismo: A Synopsis
In September 1891, four years after Noli Me Tángere,
Rizal’s second novel; was published in Ghent with the
financial assistance that came from Valentin Ventura in
Paris. A newspaper which championed liberalism in
Spain, El Nuevo regimen, serialized the publication of the
novel in its issues for October 1891.
In his letter to Blumentritt, the author explained the
title: “The word filibusterismo is very little known in the
Philippines… I heard it for the first time in 1872 when the
tragic execution took place… The Manila newspapers and
the Spaniards used this word to describe those whom they
want to render suspect of revolutionary activities… It
does not have the meaning of ‘pirate;’ it means, rather, a
dangerous patriot who will soon be on the gallows, or else
a conceited fellow.”
The second novel continues the story of the first:
Crisostomo Ibarra had evaded the pursuing soldiers at
Laguna de Bay, dug up his buried treasure, and fled to
Cuba where he amasses great wealth and befriended many
Spanish officials. Thirteen years later, he returns to the
Philippines in the person of Simoun, a rich jeweler posing
as a British Indian, a Portuguese, an American mulatto,
the Brown Cardinal, his Black Eminence, the evil genius
of the Captain-General. Two powerful obsessions
brought him back: (1) to rescue Maria Clara from the
nunnery; and, (2) to take revenge on the Spaniards.
The steamer Tabo, which had a shape like one half of a
coconut shell, was slowly sailing up the Pasig River from
Manila to Laguna de Bay. Among the passengers were
Simoun, the rich jeweler; Doña Victorina who was
searching for her husband, Tiburcio de Espadaña; Paulita
Gomez, her beautiful niece; Ben-Zayb (anagram of
Ibañez), a Spanish journalist who wrote silly articles
about the Filipinos; Padre Sibyla, Vice-Rector of the
University of Santo Tomas; Padre Camorra, the parish
85
priest of the town of Tiani; Don Custodio, a pro-Spanish
Filipino holding a high government positions; Padre
Salvi, thin Franciscan friar and former cura of San Diego
who became ecclesiastical governor of the archiodiocese;
Padre Irene, a kind friar who was a friend of the Filipino
students; Padre Florentino, a retired scholarly and
patriotic Filipino priest; Isagani, a poet, nephew of Padre
florentino and a lover of Paulita; and Basilio, son of Sisa
wghose medical education was financed by his patron,
Capitan Tiago.
The many uncomfortable turns and twists of the river
which the boat had to negotiate led the passengers to talk
about straightening it out. It was Simoun who suggested
digging a straight canal from the lake to Manila. Don
Custodio, wjho objected to the idea because it did not
come from him, said that it would require so much cost to
government and the destruction of many villages. Simoun
replied, “Use prisoners and, if they are not sufficient,
force the young and the old to contribute free labor for
three or four months. Let the villages be destroyed.”
Tales, son of a woodcutter who had sheltered Basilio
as a boy in the mountains, had made a clearing in the
forest where he planted crops. On the eve of their first
harvest, a religious order, which owned the lands in the
neighboring town, claimed ownership of the field. Tales
agreed to pay rental and was named headman and tax
collector, so he was known as Cabesang Tales. After
several harvests, his rental was raised to ten times the
original amount and he refused to pay. Not only did he
lose his appeals in courts, his guns and bolo were
confiscated. Unarmed, he was kidnapped by outlaws. To
pay for his ransom, his pretty daughter Juli had to work as
a servant. But his sweetheart Basilio redeemed her.
Simoun sought lodging in the house of Cabesang
Tales. As he displayed his jewels and gun, he told them
that he was also interested in buying jewels. Someone
reminded Tales that he had Maria Clara’s locket which
she had gifven to a beggar and which the beggar gave to
Basilo as payment for medical service. Simoun offered to
pay 500 pesos for it but Tales said that he had to consult
his daughter Juli because Basilio had given it to her. The
following day, when he awoke, Simoun discovered that
his revolver was gone but, in its place, was Maria Clara’s
locket wrapped up in a paper containing the message:
“You can have the locket as my payment for your gun.”
That night three dead bodies were found, their mouths
stuffed with soil: the priest in charge of the hacienda, the
new tenant and his wife.
In the last days of December, His Excellency was
playing cards with three friars. When Padre Camorra quit,
Simoun, who was playing billiards with Ben Zayb, was
asked to take his place and he agreed. Simoun said that he
was willing to use his diamonds for chips and suggested
that for their chips the friars could use their words on
what to renounce such as poverty, humility, obedience,
86
chastity, generosity, etc. and His Excellency could use his
blank order of detention as equivalent to five chips, his
blank order fro deportation to 50 chips and blank order for
summary execution to 500 chips. “The trouble is not that
there are bandits in the mountains,” he said. “The trouble
lies with the bandits in towns and cities… Yes, like me,
like us; let us be frank. There is no native around to
overhear.” As they were conversing, the secretary
presented the request of the young intellectuals to open a
Spanish academy. Father Camorra, Sibyla and Irene
objected to the request. Simoun was against it.
By using his wealth and influence, Simoun was
successful in fomenting corruption in the government,
promoting the oppression of the masses, and hastening the
moral degradation of the people. To incite the people to
revolt he smuggled arms into the country with the help of
Quiroga, a rich Chinese merchant. He reciprocated by
helping Quiroga become the Chinese consul. During the
fair in Quiapo, an American magician named Mr. Leeds, a
friend of Simoun, produced an Eguyptian mummy in the
form of a sphinx out of ashes in a box in the presence of
Ben Zayb, Padre Camorra, Padre Salvi, Don Custodio,
other gentlemen and some ladies. As the sphinx related
the tragic story of his life in Egypt, which was similar to
that of Crisostomo Ibarra, he was always staring at Padre
Salvi. The latter, pale as a corpse, fainted.
One native student who decided to quit his studies in
Santo Tomas was Placido Penitente, a scholar from
Batangas. One of his teachers, Padre Million, taught
physics without scientific experiments, relied on old
textbooks and scholastic arguments and humiliated his
students. But Simoun found out that the greatest obstacle
to his plans were the young native intellectual who were
dedicated to a program of reforms leading to the
assimilation of the
country into Spain.
Nevertheless, he was
able to perfect his
plan to seize Manila
and told Basilio, one
of the leaders of the
reform movement,
that the disaffected
Filipino regiments
and a band of
outlaws were
waiting for his signal
to start the rebellion.
He asked Basilio to
rescue Maria Clara
but the young man
informed him that
she died a few hours
ago. Simoun did not give the signal to start the rebellion
and Basilio was arrested. Juli preferred death to being
raped by Fr.
Camorra. The jeweller Simoun and his
explosive lamp, his plan however
was thwarted and he was at last
cornered by the authorities.
 Simoun
perfected
another plan
to overthrow
the
government
using the
anarchist
technique.
All the
government
officials in
Manila and
all the men
with the The manuscript of the El Filibusterismo
greatest property and influence were invited to the
wedding feast of Paulita Gomez at the renovated house of
Capitan Tiago which was heavily mined. He sent, as
wedding gift, a beautiful lamp which was in reality a
bomb designed to explode when the light would flicker
and the wick would be raised. He confided his secret to
Basilio who, when he saw his friend Isagani standing
beside the house, warned the latter what was going to
happen. Isagani, Paulita’s suito who was rejected because
of his liberal ideas, rushed into the house. He seized the
lamp and jumped with it into the river where it exploded.

Simoun was cornered by the soldiers, but he escaped.

Mortally wounded and carrying his treasure chest, he
sought refuge in the solitary retreat of Father Florentino
by the sea. Knowing that the Guardia Civil was following
him, he eluded arrest by taking poison. While he was
dying, he confessed to the priest his identity and ghis
obsession to punish his enemies. The priest console him:
“God will forgive you, Señor Simoun.” The priest then
hurled the dead man’s treasure chest into the sea.

Copy of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo

found in Dapitan museum. These may not be original
published copies of Rizal’s immortal novels.

87
The dying Simoun when he was
found by Fr. Florentino in the
closing story of El Filibusterismo.