18/09/2020

Exercise 3.1.2

Instruction. In 300 to 500 words, write your individual position paper on the topic assigned to your
group for the debate, highlighting the significant findings through analyzing primary and secondary
sources. You may opt to agree or disagree with the assigned stand of your group.

Some of them claim that the retraction documents of Rizal were a forgery, and some
handwriting experts say it was genuine. Many of Rizal’s handwriting documents opposed or Anti-
Catholic in which the Catholic manage to set one’s face against the publication using the funds of the
government. The retraction document was discovered by archdiocesan archivist Fr. Manuel A. Garcia. It
also said to be that the copies were only a reproduction of it and the original document of retraction has
never appeared to the public. According to Teodoro Kalaw, Rizal’s retraction was written by himself, and
it is also concluded through a deep study. There also historians who justify the genuineness of the
retraction of Rizal like Nicolas Zafra, Gregorio Zaide, etc. They consider the witnesses when Rizal wrote
the retraction paper. Rizal wrote his retraction after making some qualification in the documents. His
retraction denied the Masonry and religious thoughts that withstand the Catholic Beliefs.

However, it is still be considered as a forgery because the historian is still arguing about Jose P.
Rizal life if he died as Catholics and in the newly discovered text that differs from the text found in
Jesuits’ and Archbishop’s copies. Although there were many pieces of evidence and opinion about the
retraction of Rizal or not his own handwriting. In spite of that, there was no proof or legitimate evidence
to end the debate. Ricardo Pascual Ph. D in his book “Rizal beyond the Grave” in which it shows the
forgery. There is also doubt of the genuineness that there are no certificates or public record shown of
Rizal’s marriage to Josephine Bracken. Furthermore, In the colonization of the Spaniards, where any
rebellious group may have a death penalty led by the Spanish, it happened to the “Gomburza”. As of
today, historians have been debated the issues on some of the occasions and still, it remains unsettled.