· She was a “remarkable woman”

BSN 1-B NOTES on Life, Works, and Writings of Rizal

· It was said that Doña Teodora’s family descended from the royalty or from Lakandula, the last
native king of Tondo.
CHAPTER I
His Birth and Early Childhood · Rizal’s heritage therefore was a rich blending of features of the East and West.

THE RIZAL CHILDREN

BIRTH The marriage of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso was blessed with eleven children. They are:

· Jose P. Rizal was born on Wednesday night, June 19, 1861, in the lakeshore of Calamba Laguna. 1. SATURNINA

· His mother, who almost died during the delivery, gave him the name Jose. He was baptized three · She was the oldest of the Rizal children who was nicknamed Neneng.
days after birth.
· She married Manuel T. Hidalgo, from Tanauan, Batangas.
· He was the seventh of the eleven children of Francisco mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonso
Realonda. 2. PACIANO

· He acted like a second father to Jose.

RIZAL’S PARENTS · He was enraged and angered over the Gom-Bur-Za execution.

· Rizal’s father, Francisco Mercado, was born in Biñan, Laguna on May 11, 1818. At the age of 8, · He joined the Philippine Revolution after the former’s death as a general.
he lost his father and grew up into manhood under the care of his mother. He was well educated in
terms of what was the standard in those days having studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of · He never married and died as a bachelor at the age of 79, survived by two children of his
San Jose in Manila. It was here that he met and fell in love with Teodora Alonso Realonda. They mistress.
were married in the year 1848 and settled in Calamba where they engaged in farming and business
and reared a big family. He was described as a silent, but industrious and independent man, who 3. NARCISA
died of old age at 80.
· She was the second girl in the family, and was nicknamed Sisa.
· The Spanish term Mercado means “market” in English, a name adopted by his paternal great-
· She married Antonio Lopez and became a school teacher.
great-grandfather, who was a full-blooded Chinese, and who likewise married a Chinese girl.

4. OLYMPIA
· Rizal’s mother, younger by 8 years than her husband, was born in Manila on November 8, 1826.

· She was the third girl and Yepa was her pet name.
· She studied at the College of Santa Rosa, which was a well-known college at that time.

· She is described as an intelligent, cultured, and likewise a woman of strong character. · She married a telegraph operator from Manila.

· She did not only speak Spanish fluently, but was also a mathematician. 5. LUCIA
 · She was the fourth girl and no nickname. RIZAL’S FAMILY

· She married Herbosa who died of cholera in 1889. · The Rizal’s were a large family, but they had in general a pleasant and harmonious relationship,
their friction being minimal and normal. Their parents were disciplinarians and they taught their
6. MARIA children the values of love, truth, and Deity. They trained their children to be respectful especially to
the old folks and were meted the proper punishment when caught doing wrong.
· Biang was her nickname.
· However, there was a special relationship between Jose and his brother Paciano, the former
· She married Daniel Cruz from Biñan. looking up to the latter as second father.

7. JOSE · The Rizal family was by no means will-to-do; they were one of the distinguished families in
Calamba.
· The hero, was nicknamed Pepe.
· Their income allowed them not only to build a large stone-house but also to buy a carriage,
· It was known that he lived with Josephine Bracken, an Irish girl from Hong Kong and construct a private library, and send their children to colleges. They played leading roles in social,
bore him a son, who died a few hours after birth. religious, as well as various community activities.

· He was a poet, an artist, a sculptor, a scientist, and a novelist.

· He was a brilliant student in school; he had the manifestations of a genius. EARLY CHILDHOOD

8. CONCEPCION · Rizal loved Calamba with his heart and soul which inspired him to write a beautiful poem
entitled “Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo” (Memory of My Town).
· Her pet name was Concha. She died of sickness when she was 3 years old. Her death was
mourned greatly by the family, especially Jose. He described the death of Concepcion as · Although his family was a happy one, Rizal in his infancy was sickly, frail, and small for his age.
his first sorrow.
· In order that he could play in the garden, a little nipa cottage was built by his father, a place
9. JOSEFA where he could sit quietly, think, and dream, till he would be called for the Angelus.

· She had a unique nickname. She was called Panggoy and died as an old maid at the age
of 80.
10. TRINIDAD
· Trining was her pet name and like Josefa, she never married and died at the age of 83.
· His earliest childhood was one of where
(1):
“my heart nourished with sombre and melancholic thoughts, which even when I was still a child, I
already wandered on the wings of fantasy in the high regions of the unknown.”

11. SOLEDAD · His childhood memory was filled with happy events. One of these was the daily Angelus prayer.
By the nightfall, Jose and the rest of the Rizal children would rush to the house for the religious
· She had a per name – Choleng. activity.

· She married Pantaleon Quintero from Calamba.

· Rizal, because of his religious upbringing, was a devoted son of the church and even at the young
age of three, he participated in prayers in the house, went to church and read though haltingly and
the Spanish Family Bible.
· One of the happiest events in Rizal’s early childhood was the journey with his father to Antipolo,
on June 6, 1868 in order to fulfill his mother’s religious vow which was made on his birth, who at
that time of this trip, had given another birth, his sister Trinidad.
· From Antipolo, they went to Manila to visit Saturnina who was studying at La Concordia in
Santa Ana.
· He experienced his first sorrow when his sister Concha died in 1865. He cried bitterly over the
loss of a sister, who was then only three years old.
· Even in his early age, Rizal manifested artistic talents and at the age of five began to draw
sceneries, objects, and people using pencil. Later he would in clay, objects that caught his interest
and fantasy.
· Rizal also showed the potentials of a scientist. He loved nature.
· A poet and an artist at heart, it was easy for him to see beautiful things and to admire them. It
was at this point in time of his life, that he manifested his talents as a writer, poet, an artist and a
scientist. It was also at this point in time of his life, when he made prophecies about himself for when
his sisters and brother would taunt him for spending so much time on making images, he said that:
“Alright laugh at me now! Someday, when I die, people will make monuments and images of me (2)”.
· His early childhood revealed that Rizal was not only a poet or one endowed with artistic talents,
but also that of a magician. He had dexterous hands, and learned swiftly various tricks or do acts
faster than the eye , such as making a coin appear or disappear in his fingers, or making a
handkerchief vanish in thin air.
· Rizal's childhood and memories of Calamba and Laguna de Bay were happy, marred only by the
views of uniformed Spanish soldiers across the Bay and their cruelty.
· The Guardia Civil lieutenant had a daily activity of canning and injuring unarmed villagers. His
reactions to such events revealed his deep concern and seriousness of the situation and his insights
into the future.
· Such a scenario would always come back and taunt him that the birth of a dream of setting his
country free was beginning to formulate in his mind.
· To this Rizal's says (3);
We saw no restraints upon brutality. Acts of violence and other excesses were committed daily…
I asked myself if, in the lands which lay across the lake, the people lived in this same way. I wondered if
they tortured any countryman with hard and cruel whips merely on suspicion. Did they respect the
home? Or even yonder also, in order to live in peace would one have to bribe tyranny?
· Such experience greatly affected his thoughts and philosophy of life, which later influenced his
attitude and role in the Philippine Revolution.
CHAPTER II
HIS EARLY EDUCATION
• His early education was concentrated on the four R's, reading, writing, rithmetic, and religion, the
features of the Spanish elementary education in Calamba and Binan.
· His first teacher was his mother, who established the foundations of his knowledge. With the help
and tutoring, at the age of three, he learned the alphabets and the prayers and to read haltingly
the Spanish Bible.
· His early formal education was attained through the help of private tutors and private sessions
held at home. His first tutor was Maestro Celestino, followed by Maestro Lucas Padua.
· Leon Monroy (classmate of his father) also tutored him in Spanish and Latin but not for long. He
died five months later.
HIS EDUCATION AT BINAN
· After a tearful parting with his sisters and kissing his parents’ hand, Rizal left Calamba for
Binan in June 1869, accompanied by Paciano, who as usual acted as his second father.
· That very night, he could not sleep and he and his cousin Leandro went sightseeing around the
town just as the moon was about to rise.
· His first day in school was marred by unpleasant events. His classmates laughed at him,
especially the teacher's son. He experienced his first brawl with Pedro, and defeated him in spite
of the latter's greater physical build, but lost to another classmate, in an arm-wrestling match.
Though not tall in structure and sturdy in strength, Rizal's courage & spirit was so strong that
he never ran away from a fight.
 · Rizal's life in Binan, however, were not all fights, but were pleasurable, especially in his
relationship with Juancho, the father in law of his teacher, whose interest was in painting. It was
here where his love for painting was reborn together with his classmate Jose Guevarra and they
were dubbed as the "painters of the class."
HIS MOTHER'S IMPRISONMENT
· In general, after that his life in Binan was routinary; he disciplined himself to do things that were
important.
· In school, he was the best student. He was on top in the academic subjects and surpassed his
classmates in Spanish, Latin, and other subjects.
· After his schooling in Binan for a year and a half, he took the steamer "Talim" which brought
him from Binan to Calamba.
· There were two events that took place which brought sorrow to his life:
· In the later part of Rizal's adult life, still carrying the memory of the execution of his brother's
friend, and the other two priests, he dedicated his second novel "El Filibusterismo" to the three
priests.
· Dona Teodora, before June 1867, was accused, together with her brother, Jose Alberto, as
accomplices in an attempt to poison her brother's wife.
· Jose Alberto was a rich Binan ilustrado who had previously left for Europe for a business trip
only to find upon his return, that his wife had abandoned their children and had gone to live
with another man.
· During her arrest, Doha Teodora was forced to walk from Calamba to Santa Cruz for a distance
of 50 kilometers.

1) the execution of the three priest: Gomez, Burgos and Zamora; and · She was incarcerated in the provincial capital of Santa Cruz, where she spent two years and a
half of her life until the Manila Audencia or the Supreme Court vindicated and acquitted her.
2) the imprisonment of his mother.
CHAPTER III
HIS STUDIES AT ATENEO DE MANILA
THE GOM — BUR —ZA EXECUTION
· Rizal continued his studies, in spite of his mother's imprisonment.
On January 20,1872, about 200 Filipino soldiers and workers of the Cavite arsenal rose in mutiny under
the leadership of La Madrid, a Filipino sergeant caused by the abolition of their usual privileges. They
· As usual, Rizal entered the school accompanied by his brother, Paciano.
were not exempted from tribute and forced labor, called polo.
· Rizal had taken an entrance examination on various subjects such as arithmetic and reading at
· Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, who courted his ire by advocating
the College of San Juan de Letran and passed them but after a trip home to Calamba where he
the secular movement to Filipinize the Philippine parishes, and their supporters, Lawyers
attended a town fiesta, his father changed his mind and decided to let him enroll at Ateneo
Joaquin Pardo de Tavera and Antonio Ma. Regidor.
instead, a bitter rival of the former school.
· In spite of the Archbishop's plea for clemency because of their innocence, they were executed at
· At first he was refused admission to Ateneo Municipal, for two reasons:
sunrise on February 17, 1872.
1. He was late for registration
· Father Burgos was a friend, a classmate, and a teacher of Paciano, who grieved over their
execution.
2. Because he was sickly and frail, as he looked undersized for his age at eleven.
· Rizal never forgot the incident and considered it as one of the crucial events in his life in his
· Due to the intervention of Father Manuel Burgos, a nephew of the martyr Father Burgos, he was
youth.
finally admitted to the school.
THE JESUIT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
· One of the objectives of the Jesuit system of education was to develop the child academically, in
such subjects as physical culture, humanities, and science as found in the Bachelor of Arts
curriculum, in which he was enrolled.
· The students were divided into two camps, the internos(boarders) and the externos(non-
boarders), the former was designated as the "Roman Empire" and the latter, the "Carthaginian
Empire," who were always in competition with each other in the various activities of the school.
· The leader of each empire was called an "emperor," a position which every student vied for &
which could be lost by failing to answer three questions asked of him on the day's lesson.
· Ateneo students wore a uniform consisting of hemp-fabric trousers and striped cotton coat of
materials called rayadillo, which later became famous, it being adopted as the uniform during the
first days of the First Philippine Republic.
HIS FOUR YEARS IN ATENEO DE MANILA
· He was first year in Ateneo de Manila in the year 1872 to 1873, second year in 1873- 1874, third
year in 1874-1875, and fourth year in 1875-1876.
· It was during his first year in Ateneo that he adopted the name "Rizal," changing "Mercado"
the reason being that the latter name was under suspicion of the Spanish authorities.
· He had been using the surname "Mercado" at the College of San Jose and he was known to be a
favorite student of Father Manuel Burgos, a professor, at the same time a nephew of the martyr
Father.
· The name "Rizal" was given by a Spanish alcalde mayor (provincial governor) of Laguna who
was a family friend.
· In Rizal's letter to Blumentritt, he revealed that he was the only Rizal because in their house, his
parents, sisters and brother preferred the old surname "Mercado."
FIRST YEAR IN ATENEO
· On the first day in school, he noticed that there were a great number of boys in the class,
Spaniards, mestizos, and Filipinos.
· His first professor was Father Jose Bech, a tall, thin man who had Greek features.
· Being an externo, he was assigned to the Carthaginians, and to the bottom of the class, for not
being proficient in Spanish. But at the end of the first week, he became the "emperor" and was
dubbed as the brightest in the class and was awarded a prize, the first he ever won in Ateneo.
· He improved his knowledge and fluency in Spanish by taking private lessons in Santa Isabel
College during noon recesses for the amount of three pesos.
· He returned home to Calamba during summer, but did not enjoy his vacation since his mother
was still in jail.
SECOND YEAR IN ATENEO
· In his second year, he regretted not studying as much as in the first year, due to a remark given
by a professor, but he overcame this by studying hard and was once more dubbed as the
"emperor."
· At the end of the school year, he received not only excellent grades in all subjects but also a gold
medal for scholastic honors.
· It was this summer that Rizal, now a teenager, began to read romantic novels. One of his first
favorites was "the Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexander Dumas. The sufferings of Edmond
Dantes, the hero who was imprisoned, related to the political situation of the times, and likewise
found himself sharing the same feelings and compassion of the hero.
· He read not only other romantic novels but also historical works by Cesar Cantu which greatly
helped him in his studies.
· He also read "Travels in the Philippines" by Dr. Feodor Jagor, a German scientist who visited
the Philippines in 1859-1860.
· The last book interested him because:
1. It was an analysis of the Spanish colonization and its defects.
2. The prophecy that Spain would lose the Philippines to the United States of America in the
future.
THIRD YEAR IN ATENEO
· It was when he was in junior year in Ateneo that his dear mother was released from the prison.
 · In spite of the joyous reconciliation, Jose was not happy, and did not show as much performance CHAPTER IV
as in the previous year, although his grades in the academic subjects were excellent, but he won
only one medal-in Latin.
Medical Studies at University of Santo Tomas
· He did not receive the gold medal for Spanish because he was not as proficient as the Spaniard
● After graduation from Ateneo w/ a degree of Bachelor of Arts with highest honors, he enrolled at
who beat him.
University of Santo Tomas for higher studies.
· He returned to Calamba for the summer session, dissatisfied with the results of his studies. ● In spite of his mother’s opposition and tears, he took a year’s course in Philosophy and Letters in
the University of Santo Tomas
FOURTH YEAR IN ATENEO ● Enrolled in the course for the following reasons:
● His father liked the course
· In spite of his discontent with himself for not performing well in his academic subjects as desired, ● He was at lost of what career to pursue
he had a happy vacation.
● He enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas, took vocational courses at Ateneo leading to the
title of perito agrimensor (expert surveyor).
· Father Francisco Paula Sanchez, Rizal's professor, who encouraged him to study harder and to
write poetry. Father Sanchez was a great educator and teacher, whom Jose learned to love, ● He excelled in all subjects, obtaining medals in agriculture and topography
admire, and respect and to rate him as the best professor in school. ● He passed final examinations in surveying courses at age of 17 and was not given the title
because he was underage, but was later issued to him when he was 20.
· As a result, he topped in all his subjects and won five medals for academic excellence at the end ● Experienced brutality of Spanish officer when he was in 1st year in medical college.
of the school term. ● His grades in first year in Santo Tomas while enrolled in Philosophy and Letters were all
excellent.
LAST YEAR IN ATENEO
● It was not maintained when he transferred to medical course
· After a happy summer vacation, he went back to Ateneo for his last year.
1ST YEAR
· Rizal finished his course with the highest honors, having a kind of grade for all his subjects from
the first to the fifth year, which was "excellent" gaining him the fame of being the brightest Excellent only in one subject: Chemistry
Atenean of his time.
“Fair” in Physics
· He graduated at the age of 16 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts on top of his class which made
graduation day a proud day for the Rizal family. “Good” in Natural history, Anatomy I and Dissection I.

· On the eve of his graduation, he prayed very hard to the Virgin Mary, asking for guidance and
protection as he took his place in the world of humanity.
2ND YEAR
· The development of Rizal as a student in college was not lopsided towards the academic subjects.
There were also extracurricular activities to reckon with. Received “good” grades in all subjects

· He was an active member, later, secretary of a religious society, the Marian congregation; was a
devotee of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the College Patrones; and also a member of
the Academy of Spanish The Academy of Natural Sciences and other extracurricular activities, 3RD YEAR
which only those with academic standing can qualify.
“Fair” in General pathology “But as God has not made anything useless in this world, as all beings fulfill obligations or
a role in the sublime drama of Creation, I cannot exempt from this duty and small though it be, I too
“Excellent” in Therapeutics have a mission to fill as for example: alleviating the sufferings of my fellowmen. I realize that all
this means sacrifice and terrible ones. I imagined the pain that I must give you, but I feel something
“Good” in surgery that obliges and impels me to leave. I shall strive with fate, and I shall win or lose… God’s will be
done.”

● A letter from Paciano to his younger brother confirmed such a secret mission. In his letter were
4TH YEAR
the following:
“Very good” in all subjects
“When the telegram informing us of your departure was received in Calamba, as it was
natural, our parents grieved., especially the old man (Don Francisco) who became taciturn, always
staying in bed, and weeping at night… I told him everything, but to keep him alone, begging him to
SPAIN
keep the secret and he promised to do so. Only since the have I seen him a little gay and return to
his usual ways… It is said here that you will finish the medical course in Barcelona and not in
● Rizal left for Spain w/o his parents knowledge and consent knowing they would object, especially
Madrid. To me the Principal purpose of your departure is not to finish this course but to study other
his mother. He also did not confide to Leonora Rivera (girlfriend) of his plans, fearful that being
things of greater usefulness or that to which you are more inclined. So I think that you ought to
young, she may not keep a secret.
study in Madrid.”
● He had an intensive desire to finish medical studies and felt that the professors in Spain were
more liberal than those of Santo Tomas. ● This is the first time in the life of Rizal that there is an explicit statement of his involvement in
● Other reasons why he got to Spain because of political reasons. the plan to gain political freedom for his country.
● Liberal ideas were prevailing in the country, especially so that in spite of her being a monarchy,
she was under a written constitution which guaranteed human rights, particularly, freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly.
● Other Rizal biographers, failed to see through the second reason, which was a “secret mission”
HIS TRAVEL FOR SPAIN

● Rizal’s departure for Spain was made secret in fear that Spanish authorities may know and
prevent his trips.
SECRET MISSION ● He used the name Jose Mercado, a cousin from Biñan.
● May 3, 1882 - Rizal left on board the vessel Salvadorra, bound for Singapore. It was a lonely
● Rizal had a mission, outlined by his brother Paciano and this consisted of observing keenly the flight, tears filled his eyes as the shores slowly disappeared from his sight.
life and culture.
● May 9, 1882 - landed in Singapore, registered at a hotel and spent two days sightseeing.
● Languages and customs, industries and commerce, governments and laws of the European
● In Singapore, Rizal transferred to another ship Djemnah, a French vessel, which left Singapore
countries.
on May 11 for Europe.
● The secret mission is evident in the letter of Rizal to his parents begging forgiveness for his
● June 11, 1882 - reached Naples.
departure without their permission and blessing.
● June 16, 1882 - Reached Barcelona through train
● In the letter he said:
● June 16, 1882 - Landed at Barcelona
 ● While in Barcelona, he received news that cholera was spreading in Manila and many died and
that Calamba folks had been offering novenas to San Roque and having processions so that the
dreadful disease may be stopped.
● He was informed through his sister Panggoy the sadness of Leonor Rivera, because of his sudden
departure and w/o saying goodbye.
● Fall of 1882 - left for Madrid (Capital of Spain) because of his brother Paciano’s letter telling
him to leave Barcelona for Madrid to finish his Medical course there.
LIFE IN MADRID
● Continued his studies in Madrid, enrolling in Universidad Central de Madrid (Central
University of Madrid) in two courses: Medical and Philosophy and Letters.
● Studied painting and sculpture in Academy of Fine arts of San Fernando
● Took lessons in French, German, and English under private tutors.
● Practiced fencing and shooting in the Hall of Arms of Sanz y Carbonell.
● Visited Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, who was a mayor of Manila during the administration of
Governor-General Carlos de le Torre during 1869 to 1871, who later became Vice President of
the council of the Philippines of the Ministry of Colonies.
● March 1883 - joined the Masonic lodge called Acacia in Madrid with the thought that the
Freemasonry would aid him in his fight against the friars in the Philippines.
● November 15, 1890 - he became a Master Mason and three months later, he was awarded the
diploma of Master MAson by Le Grand Orient de France in Paris.
● Rizal had financial problems after two years of stay in Spain, for the things had been bad in the
Philippines. There were droughts and locusts which destroyed the farm and the harvests of rice
and sugar cane failed including the turkeys.
● Rizal’s monthly allowances were late and there were times when they did not arrive at all, so
there were meals he missed during the day.
● Rizal was popular in Madrid and on one occasion was invited as a guest speaker in a banquet
held in honor of Juan Luna and Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo at Restaurant Ingles in Madrid
sponsored by the Filipino artist in National Exposition of FIne arts held in the City.
● Luna's Spoliarium and Hidalgo's Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace won first and
second prizes respectively. This was well attended by prominent Spanish artists, Newspapermen
and men-of-letters, statesmen, and Filipinos. This was also one occasion where the dinner that he
had there was the only meal that he had eaten that day. Here he gave a speech which was
applauded and greeted with ovations.
● It is shown in his speech that the spirit of nationalism was already there; there was a subdued cry
for reforms for his motherland.
● He participated in the student demonstration, on November 20,21, and 22, 1884, in Central
University in which many students were wounded.
● Rizal was able to complete his studies and in June 21, 1884, he received the degree of Licentiate
in Medicine and continued working for the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
● He failed to get the degree for failure to present a thesis and paying the Corresponding fees.
● He showed excellent grades in Legal Medicine and Normal Histology, "very good" in Surgical
Clinic 2.
● He finished his studies in Philosophy and Letters, with excellent ratings, especially in General
Literature, Universal History 2, Greek and Latin Literature, Greek 1, Spanish, and the Arabic
language.
● Finishing the degree of Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters entitled him as a professor of
humanities in any Spanish University. The degree of Licentiate in medicine qualified him to
become a full-fledged physician, licensed to practice medicine.
● It was in Berlin, that his first novel Noli Me Tangere which means "touch me not came off the
press with the help of Dr. Maximo Viola, a rich friend from Bulacan.
● The novel was inspired by his readings of Uncle Tom's Cabin which would depict the miseries of
the Filipinos under the Spanish rulers.
CHAPTER V
HIS TRAVEL IN EUROPE
PARIS
● On his way to Paris, he stopped at Barcelona to meet old acquaintances, especially Maximo
Viola, a Filipino who hailed from Bulacan who helped him in the publication of the Noli, and
likewise had the pleasure of meeting the editor of the newspaper, La Solidaridad.
● During his stay for four months, he worked from November 1885 to February 1886, as an
assistant to Dr. Louis de Weckert, a leading French ophthalmologıst.
● He also socialized during his off hours by visiting friends such as the Pardo de Taveras, the artist
Juan Luna and Felix Resurrection Hidalgo, and oftentimes stayed with Luna in his studio.
● He once modelled as an Egyptian priest in the painting " The Death of Cleopatra" and as
Sikatuna in the "Blood Compact" while Pardo de Tavera modelled for Legaspi.
HEIDELBERG
● After Paris, he left for Germany, and worked at the University Eye Hospital, which was just a
stone's throw from the University of Heidelberg as an assistant to Dr. Otto Becker, a
distinguished German ophthalmologist and listened to the lecture of Dr. Becker and another
specialist, Professor Wilhelm Kuehne.
● It was in Heidelberg where he wrote his poems " A Las Flores de Heidelberg (To the Flowers of
Heidelberg) inspired by the blooming flowers along the cool banks of the Nechar River, which
reminded him of the flowers at home in Calamba.
● Rizal heard of Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, who was his best friend, Director of Ateneo de
Leitmeritz, Austria, of his interest in Philippine languages and wrote to him about a book
entitled Arithmetica that was written by Rufino Baltazar Hernandez, a Native of Santa Cruz,
Laguna, published by the University of Santo Tomas in 1868.
● He left Heidelberg for Leipzig at the eve of the fifth centenary celebration of the famous
University of Heidelberg.
● In Leipzig, he met the famous German anthropologist, Dr. Hans Beyer and listened to his
lectures including that of Professor Friedrich Ratzel, a German Historian. Here, he did a lot of
writing, translating Schiller's story of William Tell and Hans Christian Anderson's Fairy Tales
in Tagalog for his nephews and nieces, so that they can understand these stories.
● He left for Berlin, where he met Dr. Feodor Jagor, a famous German scientist and author of
Travels in the Philippines, and who had visited the country in 1859-1860, when Rizal was just a
boy.
● He became a member of various societies in Berlin, such as the Anthropological Society
Ethnological Society and the Geographical Society of Berlin upon the recommendations of his
German friends, an honour first accorded to an Asian.
● He was invited to lecture before the Ethnographic Society of Berlin and wrote a scholarly paper
in German, entitled Tagalische Verkunst ( Tagalog Metrical Art) which was received favourably
from all quarters.
● He was not just a curious student, but also a person with a "mission" He lived in Berlin for the
following reasons (10):
1. To gain further knowledge in ophthalmology;
2. To further his studies of the sciences and languages
3. To associate with famous scientist and scholars;
4. To observe economic and political conditions in the country; and
5. To publish his novel Noli Me Tangere
His Observations
● He exerted effort to master various languages, especially French so that he could write equally as
well in Spanish by taking private lessons.
● He also wrote to his sister of the German women, and described them as "serious, diligent,
educated, and friendly,"... "not gossipy, frivolous and quarrelsome.
● Like the Spanish women, moreover, "were not particular about beautiful dresses and expensive
jewellery, though they could dress nicely like other women in the world"
● He described the Filipino women as having "fine manners, devotion, and hospitality," especially
the unsophisticated ones in the rural areas. And that if they cultivate themselves and develop
their intellect through education, they can "command the respect of all men."
Chapter 6 Noli Me Tangere
● Rizal’s first novel entitled Noli Me Tangere was published, a novel inspired by the
writing of Harriet Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which described the miserable lives of
the slaves in the Southern United States.
● Actually, the novel was to be a joint project of a group of Filipinos, but which did not
materialize for the failure of the other Filipinos to do their share of work, much to the
disappointment of Rizal.
● Noli Me Tangere which means “ touch me not” finally came of the press on March
21, 1887 and in token of appreciation gave Viola the galley proofs of the novel with a
complimentary copy, which bore the inspiration: “ To my dear friend, Maximo Viola,
the first to read and appreciate my work – Jose Rizal
● Because of the novel, Rizal was also suspected for being a French spy and at one time
a Berlin police officer requested to see his passport, but with the help of Viola and his
proficiency in the use of German language, he was able to convince the authorities that
he was a Filipino physician and scientist and that he was there only to observe the
lifestyle and the customs of the inhabitants of the place
● It was also after the printing of the novel that the rival received financial help from
home. His first destination, traveling together with viola was Dresden, “one of the best
cities in Germany,” followed by Decia in Czechoslovakia, Vienna in Austria, and other
places.
First Meeting with Blumentritt
He and Dr. Viola arrived at the railroad station at Leimetritz, Czechoslovakia and Dr.
Blumentritt was there at the station to meet them. Blumentritt was proud of Rizal and brought
him to various places, historical spots, to a conference at the Tourist Club of Leitmeritz, where
he was a secretary. Rizal in response delivered a speech. Rizal had wonderful time and
beautiful memories of his meeting and spending moments with Bluementritt, and he felt sad
leaving the family, who were in tears when he left, as he departed for Prague. He proceeded to
Vienna, the capital of Austria--- Hungary at that time—and saw the “beautiful blue Danube,”
churches, museums, art galleries, theatres and public parks.
He ended his tour in Italy and visited the Vatican, Called the “City of Popes” and the capital
of Christendon, where he was deeply impressed by the majestic and magnificent building and
its religious atmosphere. After his long journey of five years in Europe and in foreign land, he
prepared for his trip home to the Philippines
CHAPTER 7: HIS HOMECOMING
· He arrived in the Philippines on AUGUST 1887, and proceeded to CALAMBA
· He came home for the following reasons:
-to operate his mother’s eyes
-to assuage his loneliness for his parents and brothers and sisters
- to find out for himself how the Noli affected the people in the Philippines
- to serve his people
- to determine the cause of Leonor Rivera’s silence.
· After a few weeks of his arrival: he was invited to Malacanang to answer
questions regarding the “SUBVERSIVE IDEAS” in his novel (coming from his
enemies).
· Denied the charges and his only defense was TELLING THE TRUTH.
· It describe the novel as (15): “heretical, impious, and scandalous in the religious
order, and anti-patriotic, subversive of public order, injurious to the government of
Spain and its function in the Philippine Islands in the political order (Retana)”.
· Copies of the book were sold, reaching 50 PESOS per copy.
· The novel was CONTROVERSIAL and POPULAR and reached SPAIN and
was the subject of debate in the SENATE OF THE SPANIARD CORTES. Among
such senators as: Gen. Jose de Salamanca, Sr. Fernando Vida (occupied a high
position in the Spanish Gov’t) and Vicente Barrantes (fiercely attacked it).
· Noli Me Tangere was defended by: Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Dr. Antonio Ma.
Regidor, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce and other Filipino reformist.
Other Spaniards as well namely: Father Sanches, Rizal’s favorite teacher in ateneo,
Don Segismundo Moret, former minister of the crown; Dr, Miguel Morayta, historian
and an old friend; and professor Blumentritt, scholar and educator and Rizal’s best
friend.
· But THE BEST DEFENSE OF THE NOLI CAME FROM REV. VICENTE
GARCIA, a Filipino Catholic Scholar and Tagalog translator of some books, who
blasted the arguments of Fr. Rodriguez on an article or pamphlet appeared in
Singapore (16); 1. Rizal cannot be an ignorant man
2. Rizal does not attack the church and Spain (only the bad Spanish officials and corrupt
Friars)
3. Those who read the Noli commit a moral sin (Rodriguez committed the sin since he read
the novel)
· GOVERNOR-HENERAL assigned Rizal a body guard, LT. JOSE TAVIEL DE
ANDRADE.
· Tragedy marked this period: Death of Rizal’s older sister OLIMPIA and a
rumor spreading that He (Rizal) was a “GERMAN SPY, AN AGENT OF
BISMARCK, A PROTESTANT, A MASON, A SOUL BEYOND SALVATION”
Chapter 8 - His Second Trip Away from the Country
Hong Kong
● On February 3, 1888 he left the country (with a spy on his tail) and began his life
journey to other countries. He left the country passing Hong Kong and was welcomed
by Filipino Residents, among them, Jose Maria Basa, Balbino Mauricio, Manuel
Yriarte, the son of the mayor of Laguna
● He visited Macao and stayed at the home of Don Juan Francisco Lecaros, a Filipino
gentleman married to a Portugese lady. He also studied Chinese, their lifestyle and
customs and made an interesting observation. He said that (19): The Dominican
Order was the richest religious order in Hong Kong. it engaged actively in business. It
owned more than 700 houses for rent and many shares in foreign banks. It had million
of dollars deposited in the banks which earned fabulous interests.
Japan
● He left Hong Kong for Japan. One of the happiest moments of Rizal was his visit in
the land of the Cherry Blossoms, where he stayed for a month and a half and the place
where he fell in love in spite of Leonor Rivera.
● He arrived in Yokohama February 28, 1888 but left Tokyo for the next day and
visited a friend, Juan Perez Coballero
● He studied Japanese Language
● He left Yokohama on April 18, 1888, bound for the United States. He met Tetcho
Suehiro, a fighting journalist, novelist and a champion of human rights who became
an important person in his life.
● They shared each other’s company in their travel through San Francisco across the
United States and New York. They bade each other “goodbye” each to his own
destination in London. But Rizal had created a deep impression on the journalist, who
later made remarks about him. He wrote (21): Mr Rizal… Young as he was, he was
proficient in seven languages, Rizal was an open- hearted man… He was an
accomplished; good at picture, skillful in exquisite wax work, especially… Frank and
daring fellow, fond of various arts, especially good at daring...
The United States
● He arrived in the United States on April 28, 1888. So that when the ship Belgic
docked on the ports of San Francisco, and its passenger were prevented from
deboarding, the carrying of 643 chinese coolies was actually the issue but used
quarantine as an excuse
● He stayed in San Francisco for only 2 days, saw the Golden Gate and wrote in his
diary his impressions of the millionaires Leland Stanford who was the founder of
Stanford University.
● The next day, on Sunday morning, May 13, 1888, he finally reached New York, thus
ending his trip across the American Continent.
● Rizal had good and bad impressions of his travel in the United States. Impressions
were positive on the progress of the country, of the great cities, the big farms and
flourishing industries and workers in factories which brought about high standards of
living, the better opportunities to immigrants, and of the natural beauty of the land.
● His negative impressions of America can be well summed up in the words “America
is the land par excellence of freedom but only for the whites.”
Chapter 9 - His Life in Europe
● After his sojourns across the American Continent, Rizal left for a trip across
the Atlantic for London
● Arrived in Liverpool, on May 24, 1888. Stayed for only one day and described
the city as:
○ A big and beautiful city and its celebrated port as worthy of its great
fame. The entrance is magnificent and the customhouse is quite good.
● Stayed as a guest in the home of Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor, an exile and a
practicing lawyer, but in May he found a boarding place in the Beckett family.
● Annotating Morga’s book, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas was considered
his greatest achievement while in London.This was published in Mexico in
1869. He described Morgas’s book as excellent, written in a scholarly fashion
and in a very simple manner and did not have “the superficiality and the
exaggeration,” inherent in Spanish works.
● Morga’s Sucesos was viewed as being “accurate in the narration of events,
unbiased in judgement and unmarred by childish fantasies.
● In spite of the distance from home, however he received good and bad news.
It was at this time that he heard of the defence of Father Garcia of the Noli
against the allegations and attacks of Fr. Rodriguez.
● On January 7, 1891, he wrote Father Garcia a letter expressing his gratitude
for his gesture.
● We young Filipinos are trying to make over a nation and must not halt in our
march, but from time to time turn our gaze upon our elders. We shall wish to
read in their countenance approval of our actions. We are anxious to learn of
the Philippines’ past which we need to understand to plan intelligently for the
future. We want to know all that our ancestors knew, and then add our own
studies to theirs. Then we shall progress the faster because we can go from
where they left off.
● But the bad news outweighed the good news which were as follows:
i. Persecution of the Filipino particular who signed the petition of the
“Anti - Friar Petition of 1888” which was presented by Doroteo
Cortes, prominent Mason and lawyer, to Jose Centeno, civil governor
of the Province of Manila, March 1, 1888.
ii. Persecution of the Calamba tenants, including Rizal’s family and
relatives, for their courage to petition the government for agrarian
reforms.
iii. Furious attacks on Rizal by Senators Salamanca and Vida in the
Spanish Cortes and by Desenganos (Wenceslao Retana) and
Quioquiap (Pablo Feced) in Spanish newspapers.
iv. Rizal’s brother in law, Manuel T. Hidalgo, husband of Saturnina, was
exiled by Governor Weyler to Bohol without due process of law.
v. A friend of Rizal, Laureano Vida, a medical student of the University
of Santo Tomas, was arrested and jailed in Bilibid Prison because
copies of the Noli was found in his house.
● Rizal stayed in London for ten months. He left London for Paris, then Spain in
the second week of December 1888 in order to determine the political
situation relevant to the agitation of reforms for the Philippines. He met two
leaders in the Propaganda Movement, Marcelo H. Del Pilar and for the first
time Mariano Ponce, and exchanged ideas and plans in their fight for reforms.
● He went back to London and spent his Christmas and New Year there. It was
here and this time of his life, that he engaged actively in the reform movement
and initiated his role in the Philppine Revolution.
● He was voted unanimously as honorary President of the Filipino Patriotic
Society in Barcelona called Asociacion La Solidaridad (Solidaridad
Association) which would cooperate in the crusade for reforms. This was
inaugurated on December 31,1888.
● Rizal’s adherence to the founding of the La Solidaridad Association on
December 15,1889 (founding of the association) jibed with Graciano Lopez
Jaena’s founding of the patriotic newspaper called La Solidaridad (founded
on February 15,1889) in Barcelona where he was residing. This served as the
organ of the propaganda movement. Its aims were as follows:
1. To work peacefully for political and social reforms;
 2. To portray the deplorable conditions of the Philippines so that
Spain may remedy them;
3. To oppose the evil forces of reaction and medievalism;
4. To advocate liberal ideas and progress; and
5. To champion the legitimate aspirations of the Filipino people
to life, democracy, and happiness.
● Two days after the birth of La Solidaridad, Mariano H. Del Pilar wrote to
Rizal in London:
○ At last our little newspaper was born. It is democratic in its opinion,
but very much more so in the organization of its staff. One should see
how editor Graciano writes, correct, proofs, direct the printing,
distributes the copies and even takes them to the mail. Naning (
Mariano Ponce), the manager, gathers the data, edits, corrects the
proof, writes the leads, prepares the correspondence, and also
distributes the copies. I am the only idle, though the newspaper had me
preoccupied during the period of its conception and birth for which
reason I am behind in my correspondence with you.
● Dr. Rost, editor of Trulnea’s Recurd, a journal devoted to Asian Studies,
requested Rizal to contribute some articles. The articles are:
○ “A specimen of Tagalog Folklore” published in the journal in May
1889
○ “Two Easter Fables” published in June 1889.
● It was also at this time that he fell in love again, with his landlady’s daughter,
Gertrude Beckett, but as usual, he did not let his emotions overcome his
obsession of fulfilling his mission to institute reforms in his country.
● For this reason, he left London, but before his departure, he was able to finish
four sculpture work namely:
○ The Prometheus Bound
○ The Triumph of Death over Life
○ The Triumph of Science Over Death; which we sent to Blumentritt,
together with the second one, and
○ A Composite carving of the heads of the Beckett sisters, this one he
gave to the family as a farewell gift.
His Second Trip to Paris
● He left for Paris, his second time to visit the place in March 1889.
● As a consequence, his life in Paris was a transient one, moving from one place
to another, although upon his arrival, he lived with his friend Valentin Ventura
for a while. But finally he found a room and stayed together with two other
Filipinos, Capitan Justo Trinidad, former gobernadorcillo of Santa Ana,
Manila, and a refugee from Spanish atrocities and Jose Albert, a student from
Manila.
● Life in Paris was full of excitement and merrymaking, but Rizal kept to
himself and worked seriously on annotating Morga’s book, polishing and
perfecting his work.
● In a letter dated May 16,1889 he described his life in Paris as follows:
○ “My daily life in Paris is spent in the following manner: one or two
hours in the gymnasium and in fencing, three or four hours in the
library, the rest I use up in writing and visiting friends. I am invited to
eat at Luna’s house, on Sunday at Mrs. Juliana’s and on Fridays I visit
the Family of Boustead ( also a Filipino) where sometimes I take tea.
● In another letter, he revealed that sometimes, he and his Filipino friends gather
four times a week and sing the Kundiman or eat Filipino foods sotanghon,
adobo, and other, to erase their loneliness. There was one happy event that he
wrote about and that was the birth of a baby girl born to the Lunas. Juan Luna
married a daughter of Don Joaquin Pardo de Tavera who was exile of 1872,
and left the Philippines through the Marianas and lived in France. (exiled in
Marianas before going to France)
The Exposition
● He arrived in Paris from London on March 19,1889, and upon his arrival
formed a club called the Kidlat Club, whose members were Filipino patriots
namely, Antonio and Juan Luna, Gregorio Aguilera, Fernando Canon, Laura
 Dimayuga, Julio Lorrente, Guillermo Pautu, and Baldomere Roxas. Kidlat
means “lightning” and it is in the light of this meaning that the club was
formed and disbanded.
● The Universal Exposition opened in Paris on May 6, 1889. He was fascinated
with the exhibitions. Most favored by him was the Eiffel, which was 84 feet
high, built by Alexander Eifell, a celebrated engineer.
● In one of their visits to the Exposition, he saw American Indians and from
them he gained an idea that if they were not ashamed of being called Indios
from North America, there was no reason why the Filipinos should not be
proud being called Indios and from this, he initiated the idea of forming a
brave new society called “Indios Bravos” in place of the Kidlat Club
The Sociedad R.D.L.M
● He also formed another society, the Sociedad R.D.L.M. which on the outside
had the principal aim of “The propagation of all useful knowledge - scientific,
artistic. and literary in the Philippines”; but its major and secret aim was the
“redemption of the Malays.”
● It is quite possible that like the Noli which was inspired by the racial prejudice
issue in the United States, it likewise was inspired by the book entitled Max
Havelaar written by Multatuli (the pen name of E.D Dekker, a Dutch author ) ,
which also exposed the deplorable conditions of the oppressed Malay
inhabitants of Netherlands East Indies under Dutch rule.
The Publication of the Annotated Edition of Morgas’s Suceso
● Finally in 1890, the annotated edition of Morgas’s Sucesos, printed by Garner
Feres with a prologue written Blumentritt, as requested by Rizal came out.
Blumentritt was a very good friend of Rizal, he did no hesitate to correct two
major errors of the book which were:
○ In that appraisal of the events of the past in the light of present
standards and
○ His inference on the Church which were unfair since the faults and the
cruelty of the friars did not mean the cruelty of the church.
Nevertheless, in spite of the two errors, it was considered a good piece
of work, which contained a dedication to the Filipino people so that, in
his words, “they would know of their glorious past.”
● Because of his title page of his edition which reads: “Paris, Libreria de
Garnier Hermanos, 1890”, biographers of Rizal thought that the annotated
edition of Morga’s Sucesos came out during 1890 but this was contradicted by
the letter addressed to Dr. Baldomero Rozas, dated December 18,1889 which
said that:
“Today I sent Lipa four copies of Morga. Later I will send some more” and
also that of mariano Pince in a letter to Rizal in 1889 “I received the Book
Sucesos. Many thanks. I have read only Bumentritts’s prologue.”
● Letter debunked the assumption that Morga’s Sucesos came out during the
year 1890.
His Competence as a Historian
● Because of his work, Rizal enriched his historical knowledge to the point that
he could now read documents. He was able to read Pigafetta’s First Voyage
Around the World in Italian, and other historical works and books in English,
German, French, and Spanish.
● His competence resulted in his excellent edition of not only in Morga’s book,
but other historical commentaries which he wrote. Among the different
historical commentaries were the following:
○ Ma-yi published on December 6,1888
○ Tawalisi of Ibn Batuta - published on January 7, 1889
○ Filipinas dentro Cieto Anos ( The Philippines A Century Hence) in
four issues of La Solidaridad, Septmeber 30, October 31, December
15, 1889 and February 15, 1890;
○ Sobre La Indolencia de los Filipinos (The Indolence of the Filipinos)
published in La Solidaridad in five successive issues;
○ La Politica Colonial on FIlipinas (Colonial Policy in the Philippines)
no date;
○ Manila en el mes Diciembre, 1872 - (Manilas in the Month of
December, 1872), no date; and
○ Los Pueblos Del Archipelago Indico (The People’s of the Indian
Archipelago), no date.

The Philippines within a Century
● One of the famous commentaries prepared by Rizal is that of his insights on
“The Philippines, A Century Hence.” He predicted with accuracy that by this
time, the Spanish rule in the Philippines would have ended.
● At the same time, he narrated the glorious past of the Filipino people, and
pointed out their. “Economic stagnation and unhappiness under the harsh and
bungling Spanish rule” killed their enthusiasm to be productive. At the end of
the article, he ventured to predict what would happen to the Spanish rule in
the Philippines if reforms were not instituted through a liberal and democratic
policy towards the Philippines.
The Indolence of the Filipinos
● The indolence of the Philippines was explained well by Rizal. He explained
that long before the coming of the Spaniards, the natives were very active in
agriculture,commerce, and industries, but due to the Spaniards forms of
government and system of education, they lost interest in productive activity,
in addition the country’s warm tropical climate imbued sleep. Moreover, the
natives did not have to work hard because nature provided them with
abundant natural resources by which they could live on, without working as
much as those in the temperate countries
Projects that Failed
● During the Universal Exposition, Rizal proposed to form an International
Association of Filipinologists, with the major purpose of studying the
Philippines from the Scientific and historical point of view and elected the
officers which were as follows:
○ President - Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt (Austrian)
○ Vice - President - Mr. Edmund Plauchut (French)
○ Counselor - Dr. Reinhold Rost (Anglo - German)
○ Counselor - Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor (Filipino - Spanish)
○ Secretary - Dr. Jose Rizal (Filipino)
They had planned to hold the inauguration of their organization in Paris on
August 1889 but were prevailed upon by a government's regulation
discouraging holding of conferences of private organizations during the
duration of the exposition. Consequently, the project fizzled out.
● Another project that did not materialize was the establishment of a Filipino
College in Hong Kong, which would seek to “train and educate men of good
family and financial means in accordance with the demands of modern times
and circumstances.” which could have gained an initial capital of P 40,000
from a rich Filipino resident in Paris.
● He spent his 1889 Christmas in Paris and shortly after, he left mysteriously for
a short visit in London. Biographers could only surmise that he had gone to
check up his annotated edition of Morga’s Sucesos and to see probably
Gertrude Beckett for the last time.
Life in Brussels
● Brussels was his next destination after Paris during the year 1890
accompanied by Jose Albert. It was suspected that the reason he left Paris was
the high cost of living and he wanted a more quiet and conducive atmosphere
by which he could continue his work on the second novel El Filibusterismo.
● In Brussels, he never had a free moment. He wrote articles for La Solidaridad,
sent letters to his family, and opened a medical clinic. His work in Brussels
was summarized in a letter sent to Antonio Luna which read thus:
○ I go to the clinic, I read, I write, I go to the gymnasium and to the
armoury. Speaking of shooting, I am sending you a target containing
ten bullet holes; it was seven and a half meters from me. At twenty -
five meters I can put all my shots into a twenty - centimeter target.
● It is worthwhile mentioning that in his love for the Filipino language, he
advocated for the Filipinization of its orthography and that Spanish c and o
should be replaced by k and w. For example, the word salacot may be changed
to salakot and arao to araw.
● In Brussels, reports reached him through Juan Luna and Valentin Ventura that
the Filipinos in Spain were gambling and this did not portray a good image of
his country. He wrote his disappointments to Marcelo H. Del Pilar in a letter
which runs as follows:
 ○ Luna complains of the gambling of the Filipinos in Madrid, so does
Ventura. They say that according to them, the parents are very much
disgusted, If we who are called upon to do something, if we in whom
the poor people place they modest hopes, spend out time in these
things precisely when the years of youth should be employed in
something more noble and lofty for the very reason that youth is noble
and lofty. I fear that we are fighting for a useless illusion and that
instead of being worthy of liberty, we are worthy of slavery. I appeal
to the patriotism of all Filipinos to give the Spanish people proof that
we are superior to our misfortune and that neither are we capable of
being brutalized, nor can noble sentiments be defeated with the
corruption of customs.
● This letter produced adverse effects and angered the gambling Filipinos and
called him “Papa” (pope) instead of his real nickname “Pepe”
Chapter 10- His Life in Madrid (1890-1891)
● Meanwhile in the Philippines, Agrarian problems made Rizal worried about
family safety. The Dominican Friars enslaved the Filipinos and increased the
land rent to the point that it made Rizal’s Father agitated, and he refused to pay
as well.
● This resulted to Dominican Friars Filing a Case towards the Family of Rizal,
obviously they won the case however Rizal’s Family appealed to the Royal
Court of Spain. This prevented Rizal from leaving PH while Paciano, Antonio
Lopez and Silvester Ubaldo were deported to Mindor while Mariano Hidalgo
was banished from Bohol.
● Rizal was anxious and worried as he discerned his letter to Soledad at June 6
1890
“I have caused harm to the family but these remains are the consolation of
knowing the motive is not disgraceful nor it is to humiliate. Anybody on the
contrary, it raises our head and dignity in the eyes of our enemies. The sad thing
to fall with the stain of dishonor. I may be what the enemies desire me to be yet
never as an accusation as they are. I hope God will be merciful to prevent me
from committing a mistake that will involve my family.”
● Rizal had premonitions on his death was made by Marcelo H. Del Pilar. “Sad
presentiments assaulted me and did not give the entire credence. I had a strange
belief that I would not reach 30 yrs old which I have to dream that my friends
and relatives are dead. Although, I don't believe in these things, I am physically
well, healthy without illness and have no fear but I am just preparing for my
death”
● He signed it with “Laong, Laan” that means “ever ready''. The dream inspired
him to finish the novel. “ I will finish this at all cost, if this is unfinished, no
one would want to continue.
● Because of what happened in the PH, Rizal decided to go home and divulged
his plan on July 18 1890 “ I want to go back to PH although it would be
imprudent and the only thing that they can do is to detain me is a doubt of my
parents that whether they would like it or not. I am afraid to disturb their years,
they will object to my homecoming, I would work for livelihood in some other
parts of the world.”
● Blumentritt, Ponce and Basa were shocked about this news and his plan was
aborted when he received a letter from Paciano Informing him of losing the case
to the Dominicans.
● He appealed to the Supreme Court and M.H. del Pilar contacted his friends to
handle at the same time he wrote to Ponce that he was leaving Brussels and
would return by the 3rd or 4th day of August. He brought with him all his
memories and the short romance of Petite Jacoby.
● His family was persecuted, his friend Panganiban died, he quarreled with Luna
and Retana, Rivalry with Del Pilar to control the paper “La Soladaridad” and
the painful part was Leonora Rivera Marrying an englishman.
● Rizals’ mission was to seek help from Asociacion Hispano Filipina in the fight
for justice for his family and Calamba tenants. Together with Dr. Dominador
Gomez and Del Pilar, he called Ministers of Colonies Senior Fabie but nothing
happened
● The Spaniards vividly described it as “ El Resumen” a Spanish paper that
sympathize Filipinos “ to cover the ears, open the arms and fold the hands”
● From PH, he received a letter of ejectment by the Dominicans to Rizal’s family.
He learned from saturnina that Paciano, Antonio Lopez, Silvestre Ubaldo, Teon
 ( Mateo Elorde) and dadoy were deported to Mindanao, also to Narcissa,
Antonio’s wife.
● He seeked help from Becerra and Maura but nothing happened, Blumentritt
advised him to go to Queen Regent Maria Christina but it was impossible since
he had no money.
● Panganiban was associated with the Propaganda who died in Barcelona due to
lingering illness. “ His described his tomb in the early age of 27 and he was sad
to die far from the native soil, separated with his family on a rosy future”
● August 19 was the mourn day of most Filipinos in Europe.
DUEL with LUNA
● Antonio Luna almost dueled with Rizal to win the Heart of Nellie Bousted, they were
supposed to duel with swords but luckily, they were sober and Luna asked for an
apology and became good friends.
DUEL with RETANA
● Wenceslao E. Retana, a writer used to attack the Filipinos and Rizal and wrote an article
“La Epoca” about calamba tenants being ejected by the Dominican Friars, he
challenged him on a duel. His friends warned him that he has no chance against Rizal.
Retana chose to apologize and printed his apology on newspapers
Marriage of Leonora Rivera
● This ended the eleven-year relationship with Rizal as L. Rivera married to Englishmen
and she asked for an apology. Rizal cried as he lost the gold watch chain that contained
the picture of the play Teatro Apolo. Blumentritt basically wrote a letter for Rizal “ I
am grieved with all my heart that you lost the girl you were engaged with. To cast a
diamond and not for a pebble” It means “ She is not for Rizal”
Del Pilar- Rizal Rivalry
● Final Reason why Rizal left for Madrid is because of the dispute of La Soladaridad that
the management preferred editorial policy in politics. That propaganda movement led
to 90 Filipinos on Jan 1 1891 to determine a solution. They should elect a leader that is
“responsaible” which opposed by Del Pilar. During the first week of the elections, Rizal
won the major position but not enough to garner him ⅔ of the votes. He won in the
third week of elections. He declined the position as he can’t be a leader with a divided
belief and he packed his things to go to Biarritz.
● He continued to his medical profession and stopped writing articles for La Soladaridad,
Del Pilar asked for forgiveness but Rizal replied that he stopped writing not because of
resentment
Chapter 11: El Filibusterismo
● The year 1891 brought some happiness in the life of Rizal. Here he met the woman he
wanted to marry and saw the publication of his second novel El Felibusterismo.
● After the selection in Madrid over the control of La Solidaridad, he took a vacation in
the city of Biarritz of the famous French Riveria, and was the guest of an old friend
Bousted, a rich Filipino family. He had met the Bousted’s and his two charming
daughters once in Paris 1889-1890.
● One of the daughters, Nellie, was the object once of misunderstanding with Antonio
Luna, whom he almost had a duel.
● In Paris, he used to fence with the Bousted sisters and attend parties given by the
family. It was here in Biarritz that he had a serious romance with Nellie.
● So that after a month’s stay, he felt happy and soon forgot his sad experiences in
Madrid. The atmosphere was festive with many tourists enjoying the soft wind breeze
from the Atlantic Ocean, the scenery was beautiful and the air was filled with joy and
laughter. Moreover, he was in love again. It was for him, for the moment, a happy
interlude.
● This time the object of his affection was the younger Bousted daughter, Nellie (or
Nelly), whom Rizal found to be a real Filipino, highly intelligent, and who shared
with him the same beliefs, values, and morality.
● His marriage to Nellie however, failed for two reasons:
1. He refused to give up his Catholic faith and be converted to Protestantism as
Nellie had demanded, and
2. He was not favoured as a son-in-law by the mother.
● Although they broke off, they remained good friends and when she learned that he
was leaving Europe, she wrote to him, wishing him a happy trip and luck in his
undertakings. After bidding the family farewell, he took a train to Paris and by the
middle of April 1889, he was back in Brussels, meeting his landladies again,
including Petite Jacoby, the woman who once loved him.
● He concentrated his efforts and energy towards the completion of his novel El
Felibusterismo, which he had started in Calamba in 1887. He worked day after day
on the novel, and on May 30, 1891, after three years in the making the novel was
ready for the press.
● Two months after, he left Brussels for Ghent, a famous university in Belgium where
he and his roommate Jose Alejandro live in frugality, “subsisting on the barest
necessities.”
● His hasty departure could be attributed to two reasons:
1. The cost of printing was cheaper in Ghent and
2. Also avoid a reconciliation with Petite Sussane
● As he had written to Basa, “because I have no money forthcoming and I owe
everybody and I am broke, I will have to suspend the publication and leave the work
half-finished.” But help came unexpectedly from Valentin Venture from Paris, who
learned of his financial difficulties and immediately sent him the money. The
publication of the novel was resumed and was completed and came out of the press
on September 18, 1891.
● That very same day, he sent two copies to Basa and Sixto Lopez in Hong Kong, and
as a token of gratitude for the financial help given by Ventura, the original manuscript
and an autographed printed copy was sent to him in Paris. He also sent
complimentary copies to his close friends: Blumentritt, Mariano Ponce, Graciano
Lopez, Jaena, T.H Pardo de Tavera, Antonio and Juan Luna, and others. It is not
mentioned whether he gave Del Pilar a copy.
● The novel was highly praised by both Filipinos in the foreign lands and those in the
Philippines. The Filipino community in Barcelona Published a tribute to the book in
the newspaper La publicidad praising the novel. It describe the Fili as (41):
….comparable only to Alexander Dumas and… a model and a precious jewel
in the now decadent literature of Spain. The novel was serialized in a liberal Madrid
newspaper El Nuevo Régimen, in the issues of October 1981.
● It is strange, however, that in history books there is no mention of the immediate
positive reactions of the Management of newspaper La Solidaridad regarding the
novel, leading to the presumption that a difference between the two Filipino patriots
still existed. On the contrary, it published an article despising Rizal, written by
Eduardo De Lete, months later.
● However, when the copies of the first edition of the Fili were shipped to Hong Kong,
almost all the boxes were lost. But the demand for the books was great that the Ghent
copies were sold at very high prices, reaching as high as 400 pesetas per copy.
● One incident that he could not forget, in spite of his travels across the continents and
seas, was the execution of the three priests and so vivid was his memory of the event,
that he dedicated the second novel to three priests. His dedication runs as follows.
The memory of the priest, Don Mariano Gomez (85 years old), Don Jose
Burgos (30 years old), executed in Bagumbayan Field on 28th of February, 1872;
The church by refusing a degrade you; has place in doubt the crimes that has been
imputed to you; the government, by surrounding your trials with mystery and
shadows, causes the belief that there were some error, committed fatal moments; and
all the Philippines, by worshipping your memory and calling you martyrs, in no sense
recognizes your culpability.
Insofar therefore, as your complicity in the Cavite mutiny is not clearly
proved, as you may or may not have been patriots, and as you may and may not have
cherished sentiments for justice and for liberty, I have the right to dedicate my work
to you as the victim of evil which I undertake to combat.
And while he wait expectantly upon Spain someday to restore your good name
and cease to be answerable for your death, let these pages serves as a tardy wreath of
dried leaves over your unknown tombs, and let it be understood that every one who
without clear proofs attacks you memory stains his hands on your blood!
● The tribute is heart and soul reaching, and a Zaide (43) (1994), describes it: Never in
the annals mankind has a hero written such a sublime and touching tribute to heroes
as Rizal.”However there are facts in terms of age and dates that Zaide (1994)
corrected in the above dedication:
1. Execution of the three priest took place on February 17, not 28, 1872;
2. Father Gomez was 73 years old, not 85.
3. Father Burgos was 35 years old, not 30.
4. Father Zamora was 37 years old, not 35.
● The original manuscript of the second novel consisting of 279 pages, with corrections
found over it, was bought by the Philippine Government from Valentin Ventura for
the sum of 10 000 pesos and is currently preserved in the Filipiniana Division of the
Bureau of Public Libraries.
● It is reported that there are two features of the novel which were not included in the
printed copies, to save printing costs, as others assert. Two features are the:
1. Foreword and the
2. Warning
● The manuscript on foreword is as follows.
We have so often been frightened by the phantom of filibusterismo from only
the nurse's narration it has become a positive and real being whose name alone (in
depriving us of our country) makes us commit the greatest myths in order not to meet
the feared reality. Instead of fleeing, we shall look at its face, and with determined, if
in expert, hand we shall raise the veil to uncover before the multitude the mechanism
of its skeleton.
● If upon seeing it, our country and its government reflect, we shall consider ourselves
happy no matter whether they censure us for the audacity, no matter whether we pay
for it like the student of Sais who wished to penetrate the secret of the priestly
imposture.
● On the other hand, if in the face of reality, instead of being soothes, one’s fear is
increase and the trepidation of another is aggravated, then they will have to be left in
the hands of time which educates the living, in the hands of fatality which weaves the
destinies if peoples and their government with the faults and errors that they are
committing everyday.
● On the other hand, the Warning is found on the other side of the dedication page.
This runs as follows:
They are going to waste their time who would attack this book by holding into
trifles, or who from other motives, would try to discover in it more or less known
physiognomies.
● True his purpose of exposing the disease, of the patient, and, in order not to divert
himself nor divert the reader, whilst he narrates only real facts which happened
recently and are absolutely authentic substance, he has disfigured his characters so
that they may not turn to be the typical pictures some readers found in his first book.
Man passes, his vices remain, and to accentuate or show their effects, the pen of the
writer aspires.
● His best friend, Blumentritt, plays an important role in the book, by writing its
inscription on the title page, translated by Bocobo in 1957 it runs as follows:
It can easily be supposed that a rebel (filibusterismo) has secretly bewitched
the league of friars - zealots and retrogrades so that, unwittingly following his
incitement, they should favour and forment hat policy which pursues one sole end;
● To spread the ideas of rebellion throughout the length and breadth of the length and
breadth of the land, and to convince every Filipino that there is no salvation except
through separation from the Mother Country.
● It is probably from the insights of his inscription of Rizal’s best friend, Ferdinand
Blumentritt, that the goals of the Filipino Patriots became more explicit and were not
just for the institution of reforms but for independence.
●
Chapter 12
After the success of his second novel, the El Filibusterismo, Rizal left Europe for Hong Kong
for two reasons:
1.) his widening political differences with Marcelo H. del Pilar and
2.) to be near the Philippines and his family.
Although there was evidence of the indifference of the management controlling La
Solidaridad of Rizal’s second novel, prior to his departure from Europe, he however, notified
del Pilar of his termination from the political arena in Spain to preserve unity and that he had
the highest regard for him
Two weeks after the publication of the Fili he bade goodbye to his friends in Ghent –
the Pardo de Tavernas, the Venturas, the Lunas, and the other friends – carrying with him, a
recommendation by Juan Luna for Manuel Camus, a compatriot in Singapore and 600 copies
of his novel.
Rizal described his trip “HEAVENLY” while on aboard aroused the interest and admiration
of his fellow passengers of various nationalities by his ability to draw or sketch.
On board the ship, there was an incident which amused him. A group of German
ladies sitting in a nearby table, were gaily talking and gossiping about him.
 Although he understood what they were talking about, he kept quiet and left them
alone with their gossips, until when the door of the dining room was blown open when the
ship encountered a heavy squall. One of the ladies made a remark in German: ”If the man in
front of us were a gentleman, he would close the door.” Rizal stood up to close the door, and
after he sat down, he then talked with them in German to their consternation and
embarrassment, but this anyway, led to their friendship, admitting that even is his skin was
brown, he was an exceptionally cultured gentleman.
November 20, 1891 – Rizal Arrived in Hong Kong and stayed for almost seven months
before he travelled again. He was met by his old friend, Jose Ma. Basa.
December 1, 1889 – he wrote his parents that he would like to go home, but while waiting
for their reply, he received a letter from Manuel T. Hidalgo (his brother-in-law) written on
the same date, relating the bad news that there were 25 persons from Calamba who were
deported and the list included his father, Sisa, Lucia, Paciano, Saturnina, and the rest of the
family.
Manuel T. Hidalgo further added that he was preparing a letter for the Queen Regent of
Spain explaining the Calamba incident and pleading for justice, and that if needed he would
seek the support of Queen Victoria of England. In both instances, nothing came about it.
Christmas 1891 - Rizal was gladdened by the arrival of his father, Paciano, Silvestre
Ubaldo, Olympia’s husband. Later his mother and sisters Lucia, Josefa, and Trinidad. Rizal
though happy felt sad, that his mother (65 yrs old), showed manifestations of Spanish
brutality and was almost blind.
Rizal operated on his mother’s left eye so that she regained her sight and was able to
read and write again. The Christmas reunion was one of the happiest moments in his life.
Rizal practiced medicine to support himself and the family and become successful
and popular. He received substantial support, financially and morally, from so many friends,
and among these were:
· Dr. Lorenzo P. Marquez – gave him some of his eye cases.
· Dr. Ariston Lin – sent him a book on Diagnostic Pathology written by a friend, Dr. H.
Virchow and another medical book entitled Traite Diagnostique by Mesnichock
· Dr. Antonio Vergel de Dios – offered services for the purchase of medical books and
instruments
· Mr. Bousted – encouragement and praises.
Rizal would have been a renowned ophthalmologist if he had concentrated on his medical
practice, since he had a wide clientele of different nationalities.
Dr. Germiniano de Ocampo – a distinguished ophthalmologist describes him as one of
with the potential for greatness in the field and said this to him:
“He (Rizal) had all the qualities that would make him an ideal ophthalmic surgeon - a
keen and analytical intellect, lightness of touch and artistry of a painter, courage and
imperturbability, a broad and deep knowledge of medicine and ophthalmology and last
but not the least, he had been properly and adequately trained by master ophthalmic
surgeons.”
THE BORNEO PROJECT
Rizal had other interests other than practicing medicine and curing people and these
did not concern himself, but of many Filipinos who were in exile and faced the prospect of
having no country. It was during the cruel administration of Governor-General Weyler that
the concept of having a Borneo Colonization project was conceived.
He planned to move the landless Filipino families to that British-owned island and
carved out its virgin wildness a “New Calamba”.
So intense was his desire to accomplish the project, that he went to Sandakan during
the first week of March 1892 to negotiate with the British authorities for the establishment
of a Filipino colony. His mission was successful, and the British North Company established
the land up to the Bangkoga River in Maradu Bay consisting of 100, 100 acres of land area
for such project. Aside from there, they were offered a beautiful harbor and a good
government free of all charges. A month later, specifically on April 20 of the same year, he · and another article in Spanish: Proyecto de Colonizacion del British North Borneo por
was back in Hong Kong, bringing the good news. los Filipinos (Project of the Colonization of British North Borneo by the Filipinos), both of
which expounded and justified the colonization of the British North Borneo Project.
There were many friends who approved the project;
However, during this lull, what he considered as an accomplishment was the preparation
· The Lunas of the constitution of Liga Filipina

· Dr. Bautista Lin Liga Filipina – an association of Filipino patriots in Hong Kong. This was born out of the
conceived by Jose. Ma. Basa, which was realized after its establishment by Rizal.
· Dr. Blumentritt
April 15, 1892 – the La Solidaridad published an article written by Eduardo de Lete
· Graciano Lopes Jaena –who wrote to Rizal of his desire to join the project and stay in
portraying Rizal as “Cowardly, egotistic, opportunistic - a patriot in words only” seeking
Borneo, where he could plant sugar cane and produce sugar.
the comforts and safety in Hong Kong.
There was a dissenting voice, however, and this came from his brother in law, Hidalgo, the
Rizal protested to del Pilar about the article and described it as “too hasty and you
brave Batangueno. He could not accept the idea of leaving the Philippines and moreover was
permitted yourself to be carried away” and described the effects it could have on the reform.
concerned what people would say.
However, he remarked that the article awakened in him the interest of the reform movement
But Rizal thought the idea was good, and taking into the consideration the political and that he was going to activate the propaganda movement in Hong Kong by strengthening
events in the Philippines, the replacement of the Governor Weyler, popularly known among the newly founded association – Liga Filipina.
the Cubans as the “Butcher”, by the Governor-General Eulogio Despujol, the Count of
May 23, 1892 – he confided his bitterness to Mariano Ponce in a letter when he wrote:
Caspe, he thought the change was for better.
“I am very sorry that del Pilar allowed the article to be published because it will lead many
Consequently, Rizal wrote the new Governor-General, a letter congratulating him of
to believe that there is really schism among us. I believe that we have little misunderstanding
his new position and offering his cooperation. The governor-general did not answer, much
and personal differences among ourselves, without exhibiting them in public.”
less acknowledge his letter, he sent another entrusting it to the ship captain to assure its safe
arrival. Actually, Governor Despujol received the letter and frowned upon the ide, and
instead wrote the Spanish Consul in Hong Kong to tell Rizal that “the Philippines lacked
Rizal waited 3 months for the reply and in the meantime occupied his time by writing
laborers and it was not very patriot to go off and cultivate foreign soil.”
on different topics but mostly on nationalistic issues. Among
May 1892 – Rizal made a decision to return to Manila, spurred by the following reasons:
· them was an article in French entitled Colonization de British North Borneo, par de
Families de Iles Philippines (Colonization of British Borneo by Families from the Philipine 1. To confer personally with the Governor on the British North Borneo Colonization
Isladns), Project

2. To establish the Liga Filipina in Manila

3. To prove the Lete was wrong that being safe and comfortable in Hong Kong, he had
abandoned the country’s cause.
As to whether the article affected him, he made a decision to return to Manila and going
to the “Lion’s Den”, for as he asserted, the arena was no longer in Spain, but in the
Philippines itself.
June 19, 1892 – Rizal spent his birthday in Hong Kong.
June 20, 1892 – Spent the day writing letters. Two letters were sealed and given to Dr.
Marquez, with instructions not to open them but only after his death. One letter was for
his “parent, brethren and friends,” while the other was for the “Filipinos”. This showed
that Rizal knew what was going to happen to him and showed premonition of his death.
June 21, 1892 – Rizal wrote Governor Despujol another letter with the message that he
was coming home and placed himself under the protection of the Spanish Government.
On that very same day, Rizal, together with his sister, Lucia, left for the Philippines
unaware of the Governor’s duplicity; of the things that were planned for him or of the
sinister trap that was laid, with the filing secretly of “anti-religious and anti-patriotic
agitation” charges not only Rizal but also his followers.
Chapter 13: His Impending Arrest
This chapter marks the: SECOND HOMECOMING and The La Liga Filipina
SECOND HOMECOMING: Rizal’s return to Manila since August 1887 or a period of
almost five (5) years. On June 26, 1892, he arrived in Manila.
He had two (2) reasons for coming home:
1. To talk personally with Governor Despujol of the British North Borneo
Colonization Project
2. To establish La Liga Filipina in Manila
Timeline of His Impending Arrest and 2nd Homecoming:
June 26, 1892 – Rizal arrived in manila with Lucia, his widowed sister. Immediately at 4:00,
he went to Malacañang to seek audience with Governor Despujol.
Confer with the Spanish Governor-General Despuljo: The latter agreed to pardon Rizal’s
father but not the rest of the family.
June 27, 1892 - After the first interview with the governor, he visited his other sisters in the
city which he also visited: (note: this is fact checked: in the video, the date says June 7 th of
1892 which was faulty because wala pa siya sa Philippines on June 7th)
- Malolos Bulacan
- San Fernando, Pampanga
- Tarlac
- Bacolor, Pampanga
It was not known whether there are spies that followed him but after he left, Rizal’s
friends were raided and copies of the Noli and Fili were confiscated
June 30 Interview w/ Governor Despuljo: Rizal breached the idea of the British North
Borneo Colonization Project, which was unsuccessful, Governor opposed
July 03: Rizal returned to talk with the Governor and gave his thanks for lifting the penalty
of exile for his sisters and to inform him that his father and brother were arriving on the first
boat.
On the similar day, Rizal attended a meeting with other Filipino Patriots at the
house of Doroteo Onjunco, a Chinese-Filipino mestizo in Ylaya street on Tondo. This marks
the making ang gathering of La Liga Filipina
The Mason members who attended and among these were:
 (1) Pedro Serrano Laktaw (panday Pira): A school teacher As embodied in the constitution, the aims of La Liga Filipina were the following:

(2) Agustin dela Rosa: A book keeper 1. To Unite the whole archipelago into one compact and homogeneous body;

(3) Moises Salvador (araw): a contractor 2. Mutual protection in every want and necessity;

(4) Domingo Franco (Felipe Leal): a tobacco shopkeeper 3. Defense against all violence and injustice;

(5) Luis Villareal: a tailor 4. Encouragement of education, agriculture, and commerce; and

(6) Faustino Villareal (Ilaw): a pharmacist 5. Study and application of reforms.

(7) Numeriano Driano (Ipil): a notary public Motto of La Liga Filipina: Unus Instar Omninium (one like all)

(8) Estanislao Legaspi: an artisan - Qualification for membership: all Filipinos who have welfare of their
country and their fellowmen. Membership fee was fixed at 2 pesos and monthly
(9) Bonifacio Areval (harem) due of 10 centavos

(10) Teodora Plata: a court clerk - Duties of the members:

(11) Andres Salvador: gobernadorcillo of Quiapo 1. To obey the orders of the Supreme Council;

(12) Apolinario Mabini (Katabay): a Lawyer 2. To help in recruiting new members;

(13) Jose A. Ramos: owner of Bazar Gran Bretana and first worshipful master of 3. To keep in strictest secrecy the decision of the Liga Authorities;
Nilad, First masonic lodge
4. To have a symbolic name which he cannot change until he become
The meeting was also attended by: president of the council;

(1) Deodato Arellano, brother-in-law of M.H. del Pilar 5. To report to the fiscal anything that he may hear which affects the
(2) Amrosio Flores (Musa), retired lieutenant of infantry Liga;
(3) Andres Bonifacio, warehouse employee
(4) Juan Zulueta, playwright, poet, and govt. employee 6. To behave well as befits a good Filipino; and

Rizal explained what La Liga Filipina was about and its objectives. At this time, he presented 7. To help fellow members in all ways
the constitution of the association which he had prepared in Hong Kong. Which was accepted
favorably by members of La Liga Filipina. - The Officers of the La Liga Filipina elected were as follows
 1. Ambrossio Salvador – president
2. Deodatio Arellano – secretary
3. Bonifacio Arevalo – Treasurer
4. Agustin de la Rosa – Fiscal
Pobres Frailes (Poor Friars): written by Fr. Jacinto and printed in Manila. This is a satire
against the Dominican Friars who amassed wealth and fortune “contrary to their monastic
vows of poverty” This was found during one of his visits to the Malacañang to resume his
talks with the governor, the latter showed him “subversive materials” allegedly found on
Lucia’s pillowcase. (note: in the series, illustrados, this was the planned by padre
amado and conchita monteverde to place pobres frailes inside the maleta of Rizal)
Rizal was arrested in spite of his protestations of innocence and vividly described as:
- Despite of his denial and insistent demand for investigation in accordance with
due process of law, he was placed under arrest and escorted to Fort Santiago by
Ramon Despujol, a nephew and aide of Governor-General Despujol
- Rizal wrote in his diary how he describes his imprisonment at Fort Santiago
They assigned me a fairly furnished room with a bed, a dozen chairs, one table, a
wash basin, and a mirror. The room had three windows, one without, grill which
opens on a patio, another with grills which look out on the city walls and the
beach and other which was the door closed with a padlock. Two artillery men as
sentinels guarded it.
Gaceta de Manila: Through this newspaper, it shows the arrest of Rizal and was made
known to the public. It causes indignation among the Filipino people and uneasiness of La
Liga Filipina.
Governor’s Decree (July 7, 1892): a decree to deport rizal to “one of the islands in the
South,” justifying its actions on the following grounds:
1. Rizal had published books and articles abroad which showed disloyalty to Spain and
which were “frankly anti-Catholic” and “imprudently anti-friar”
2. A few hours after his arrival in Manila, “there was found in one of the packages… a
bundle of handbills entitle Pobres Frailest in which the patient and humble generosity
of Filipinos is satirized, and which accusation is published against the customs of the
religious orders.
3. His novel El Filibusterismo was dedicated to the memory of three traitors, and on the
title page he wrote that in view of the vices and errors of t
4. The Spanish administration, “the only salvation for the Philippines was separation
from the mother country”.
5. The end which he pursues in his efforts and writings is to tear from the loyal Filippino
breast the treasures of our Holy Catholic Faith.
“Separation from the mother country”: Actually contained in the last sentence of the
inscription of the Fili written by Blumentritt.
July 7, 1892, at 7:00 AM: Rizal was exiled in Dapitan. Which was nine (9) days later, Rizal
was brought under heavy guard to the steamer Cebu which brought him to Dapitan. He was
handed by Captain Delgras, the ship’s captain to Captain Ricardo Canicero, the Spanish
Commander of Dapitan.
Chapter 14: His Life in Dapitan
A letter was sent through the ship for Father Antonio Obach, Jesuit parish of Dapitan
from Father Pablo Pastells, Superior of the Jesuit Society in the Philippines. In the letter,
Father Pastells said that Rizal could live at the parish convent provided the following
conditions were met:
1. That Rizal publicly retract the errors concerning religion, and make statements
that were clearly pro-Spanish and against the revolution.
2. That he perform church rites and make a general confession of his past life.
3. That henceforth, he conduct himself in an exemplary manner as a Spanish subject
and a man of religions.
 Rizal refused to follow the conditions set, and preferred to live in the house of the
commandant, Captain Carnicero, with whom he developed a warm friendship and pleasant
relationship, to the extent that the commander gave him freedom to go anywhere, but to
report only once a week at his office and even allowed Rizal, who was a good equestrian, to
ride his chestnut horse.
Rizal wrote his impression about the kind commandant in his poem A Don Ricardo
Carnisero on the occasion of his birthday on August 26, 1892.
Wins Lottery
Their warm friendship can also be illustrated when both of them, together with a
Spanish resident in Dipolog, Francisco Equilior, bought a lottery ticket No. 9736 which won.
So that morning of September 21, 1892, the sleepy town of Dapitan was bursting with
excitement, when the mail boat Butuan arrived with colored pennants flying high.
The commandant, thinking that a distinguished visitor was on board dressed in his
gala uniform, ordered the town folks to assemble at the shore and hired a brass band.
It was both a happy and pleasant surprise, when they found that the ticket they bought
won, secondary prize of Php 20,000 in the government owned Manila Lottery. Of his share
of Php 6,200, Rizal gave his father Php 2,000; Php 200, to his friend in Hong Kong, Jose Ma.
Basa and the rest invested in agricultural lands along the coast of Talisay, a kilometre away
from Dapitan.
A Rizal biographer Wenceslao Retana, his former opponent in an aborted duel in
Paris, remarked about this certain aspect of Rizal’s character and that was: Rizal was a
moralist; he did not smoke nor gamble, be he had an obsession with lotteries, which
“represented his lighter side”.
In his exile in Dapitan, the Jesuit Father Patells never gave him peace with respect to
his religious beliefs. They had long and scholarly debates. Which started with Pastells
sending him a book authored by Sarda together with the advice that Rizal stop his foolishness
in viewing religion from the “prism of individual judgement and self-esteem”.
Their interesting debates were recorded in four letters written Rizal, and the
corresponding replies of Pastells on the following dates:
1. September 1, 1892 – replied on October 12, 1892
2. November 11, 1892 – replied on December 8, 1892
3. January 9, 1893 – replied on February 2, 1893
4. April 4, 1893 – replied on April (no date), 1893
Rizal had the tendency of using his judgement on his experience and orientations in
Europe, and his bitterness over his family’s and his own persecution at the hands of bad
friars, which were anti-Catholic. Father Pastells tried his best to change Rizal’s opinions, but
his efforts proved futile. As a matter of fact, in his letter to Blumentritt on January 20, 1890,
Rizal said that: “I want to hit the friars, but only friars who utilized religion not only as a
shield, but also as a weapon, castle fortress, armour, etc.; I was forced to attack their false
and superstitious religion in order to fight the enemy who hid himself behind it.
Nevertheless, he maintained his Catholic faith by hearing mass at the Catholic Church
in Dapitan and celebrating Christmas as well as participating in various religious activities
and fiestas. The Catholicism he rigidly adhered to was the kind which “enlightens”, not of
the bigotry and prejudice of the Dominicans, but the Catholicism of Renan and Teilhard de
Chardin.
In Dapitan, Rizal almost had a duel with a French businessman, a Mr. Juan Lardet,
over the latter’s purchases of logs from him, some of which were poor quality. Lardet
confided and wrote this problem to Antonio Miranda, a friend of Rizal in Dapitan. His letter
stated that “if Rizal were a truthful man, he would have told me that the lumber not included
in the account were bad”, was secretly sent by Miranda to Rizal. As usual, Rizal flared up in
anger and challenged the French man to a duel. The commandant however, when informed of
the incident warned the Frenchman, “my friend, you do not have a Chinaman’s chance in a
fight with Rizal on a field of honor. Rizal is an expert martial arts, especially in fencing and
pistol shooting.” He followed the commandant’s advice and sent a letter to Rizal in French
apologizing for his mistake. Rizal in French (Hispanic Chivalric Code) accepted the apology
and they became friends again.
Father Pastells not contented with their friendly debates virtually moved heaven and
earth to persuade Rizal from his so-called “errors of religion”, by assigning Father Obach of
Dapitan, Father Jose Villaclara, cura of Dipolog to do the job, together with Father de Paula
Sanchez, who was Rizal’s favourite teacher while at Ateneo. Father Sanchez had just come
from a three year sojourn in Europe to teach again at Ateneo and to head its museum. Father
Sanchez is remembered for his defence of the Noli Mi Tangere in public. visited Rizal at his house on the night of November 3, 1893 and introduced himself, showing
a photo of Rizal and a pair of buttons with the initials P.M., supporting his contention that he
In spite of his strong attachment and influence on Rizal, Father Sanchez, like those
was a relative. In their conversations, he offered his services as a confidential courier of
before him, failed to convince him much less convert him. They maintained their close
Rizal’s letters and writings for his compatriots in Manila, which aroused his suspicions. He
relationship however, in spite of their religious differences. Father Sanchez even helped Rizal
wanted to throw the spy out but since it was night time and there was heavy rainfall, he
in improving and beautifying the town plaza of Dapitan. Rizal in turn gave him a gift entitled
allowed the impostor to sleep in the house, but send him on his way the next morning.
Estudios Sobre La Lengua Tagala, a Tagalog grammar written by him dedicated to his
beloved teacher. He thought that he had gotten rid of the impostor, but he learned later that he was still
in Dapitan, telling people that he was a relative of Rizal and this time, Rizal informed the
As the days went by, Rizal became adjusted to his exile life in Dapitan and was
commandancia about the matter, also to Captain Juan Sitges, a successor of Captain
seemingly enjoying his “idyllic life”. His loneliness was assuaged by the frequent visits of
Carnicero, who ordered the arrest and investigation of the impostor. During the investigation,
the members of his family, who took turns in seeing him; his mother, sisters (Trinidad,
he gave his true name Florencio Namanan, 30 years of age, and confessed that he was sent by
Maria, and Narcisa), together with their nephews, Teodisio, Estaninslao, Mauricio, and
the recollect friars to a secret mission in Dapitan, particularly to spy on Rizal’s activities by
Prudencio.
posing as a relative, and to gather evidences that will incriminate him in the revolutionary
A square house surrounded by trees was built in the land he bought in Talisay, and movements.
nearby, was a school house with eight sides, for boys and a hospital for his patients. True to
However, Rizal was surprised why the investigation was suddenly stopped and Capt.
his ways of industry, his time was never wasted. In his letter to Blumentritt dated September
Sitges released the spy and forwarded the documents immediately to Governor-General
19, 1893, he said:
Blanco. The documents were held confidential and when Rizal inquired for them, his request
“I shall tell you where I live here. I have three houses: one a square, another was denied.
hexagonal, and a third octagonal; all of bamboo, wood and nipa. In the square house, we
The three biographers of Rizal, Retana (1907), Palma (1949), and Jose Baron
live, my mother, sister Trinidad, a nephew and I; In the octagonal house live my boys or
Fernandez (1982) discussed the incident but did not quote the best and most reliable of all the
some good youngsters whom I teach arithmetic, Spanish and English; and in the hexagonal
documents regarding the incident, which was the letter of Rizal to his brother-in-law, Manuel
live my chickens. From my house I hear the murmur of a crystal, clear brook which comes
T. Hidalgo, which runs as follows in full text:
from high rocks.
My Dear Brother-in-law Maneng,
I have many fruit trees, mangoes, lanzones, guyabanos, baluno, nanka, etc. … I rise
early – at five, visit my plants, feed the chickens, awaken my people and put them in I was unable to write you by the previous mail for lack of time, for the boat
movement. At half-past seven we eat breakfast with tea, pastries, cheese, sweetmeats, etc. left unexpectedly.
Later I treat my poor patients… I dress and go to town in my baroto, treat the people there,
With regard to Pablo Mercado, I tell you that he came here presenting himself
and return at 12, where my luncheon awaits me. Then I teach the boys at 4PM and devote the
as a courteous friend in order to get from me my letters, writings, etc.; but I found him out
afternoon to agriculture. I spend the night reading and studying.”
soon and if I did not throw him out of the house brusquely it was because I always want to be
nice and polite to everyone.
A Spy in their Midst Nevertheless, as it was raining, I let him sleep here, sending him away very
early the next day. I was going to let him alone in contempt but the rascal went around
Their tranquil and peaceful life was disturbed with the discovery of a spy in their
saying secretly that he was my cousin or brother-in-law, I reported him to the Commandant
midst, who assumed the name of “Pablo Mercado”, and posed as a relative. He secretly
who had him arrested.
It was revealed in his declaration that he was sent by the Recollects who gave him
Php 72 and promised him more if he succeeded in wresting from me my letters for certain
persons in Manila. The rascal told me that he was a cousin of one Mr. Litonjua, son of Luis
Chiquito, according to him and brother-in-law of Marciano Ramirez. He wanted me to write
to these gentlemen.
He brought along a picture of mine, saying that it was given to him by one Mr.
Legaspi of Tondo of San Nicolas. I don’t remember exactly. It seems that he belongs to a
good family of Cagayan de Misamis. Be careful of him, he is a tall boy, somewhat thickets,
slightly squinty eyes, dark, slender, broad shoulders, and of impudent manners. He spoke
much, spits more and has thin lips.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Your brother-in-law who loves you.
(Signed) Jose Rizal
Here in the letter, Rizal identified the spy and those who sent him, including the
amount of the bribe. The hasty investigation and closing the matter could be attributed to the
fact that the persons behind were the Recollect friars.
Rizal built a hospital for his patients, the majority of them were poor, so oftentimes
medications were free. However, there were also rich patients who paid him handsomely for
his services. In August 1893, his mother and sister, Maria came to visit him and stayed for a
year and a half. Here, he operated on his mother’s right eye, and was successful, but she
disobeyed her son’s instructions not to remove the bandages, which she did, thereby causing
the wound to be infected.
The infection was however, arrested and her sight was fully recovered. He wrote to
his brother-in-law, Maneng, about the incident and added that “Now I understand very well
why a physician should not treat the members of his family.”
Rizal’s fame as an eye specialist reached not just in various parts of the Philippines,
in Luzon, the provinces in Visayas; but also across the seas, especially in Hong Kong. He
virtually had a lucrative practice; a rich Filipino patient, Don Ignacio Tumarong, paid him
Php 3,000 for restoring his sight; an Englishman paid Php 5,000; Don Florencio Azcarraga, a
rich haciendero of Aklan gave a cargo of sugar in compensation for his services.
Being a scientist, he studied local herbs and their uses for medicine; studied plants
and their curative effects, and used them on patients who could not buy expensive medicines.
Community Activities
Rizal gave much of himself in the place of exile playing off the peace and happiness
it had given him. This he did by playing an important role in its community activities as well
as its development.
One of the problems besetting the municipality of Dapitan was its water system. Rizal
used the knowledge he had gained as an expert surveyor (perito agrimentor), one of the early
degrees he obtained from Ateneo, in the improvement of the water system and was
successful in furnishing clean water to the people. Modern engineers of today marvel at the
work of Rizal considering the inadequacy of engineering tools at the time and limited funds.
As a matter of fact, such was the opinion of an American engineer, Mr. H.F. Cameron.
Another famous and well known water supply is that of Dapitan, Mindanao, designed
and constructed by Rizal during his banishment in that municipality by Spanish authorities…
When one considers that Rizal had no explosives with which to blast the hard rocks and no
resources save his own ingenuity, one cannot help but honor a man, who against adverse
conditions had the courage and tenacity to construct the aqueduct which had for its bottom
the flatted tiles from house roofs and was covered with concrete made from lime burned from
sea corral.
Another community work he had indulged in was the draining of the marshes.
Although he was a very busy man with his medical practice, his school, his scientific studies,
writing and reading, he spent plenty of time draining the marshes to get rid of the breeding
places of the malarial mosquitoes knowing from his knowledge gain in Europe that they
thrive well in swampy places.
With the Php 500 paid to him by an English patient, Rizal used it in equipping the
town with a lighting system. The lighting system was primitive, electricity unknown at that
time, consisting of coconut oil lamps placed in the dark streets in the town. attracted him. He had learned much from agriculture, having to cultivate 16 hectares of land
which he bought in Talisay. He was doing business in agricultural crops, as well as in fish,
Rizal was a born teacher, his inclination started when he was young for he realized
copra, and hemp, which he exported. He also went into manufacturing and even logging.
the value of education. While in Europe he made it his business to observe not only customs
and traditions but also their school systems. Once he was in Hong Kong, the idea of building
a college was in his thoughts, but it was also one project that he was not able to do. In
But after all was said and done, Rizal did not feel completely happy. There were
Dapitan however, in 1893 he was able to finally put into use the different pedagogical
moments when he was lonely after the hard day’s work, and in spite of his successes in every
methods that he had learned in Europe, up to the end of his exile. Although his school started
field that he ventured in, he missed his family, relatives, and friends; he missed his life in
with only three pupils, it grew into 21. And instead of charging school fees, they were
Europe, but most of all is happy days in Calamba. The death of Leonor Rivera added to his
required to render services or work in the garden, fields or on construction projects in the
sadness and loneliness. He felt he needed someone and from nowhere came Josephine
community.
Bracken, the last woman in his life.
Rizal put up a two-hour schedule for the classes everyday starting at 2:00 until 4:00 in
While in Dapitan, he volunteered his services as a military doctor in Cuba, where a
the afternoon under the Talisay tree, which became the subject of one of his poems later. The
revolution was going on and yellow fever was raging, through the advice of his friend
pupils sat on a bench, while the teacher was seated on the hammock. Subjects such as
Blumenritt. There was no immediate response from the Governor-General Blanco, but a
English and Spanish were taught every other day. He followed the style at Ateneo where the
letter dated July, 1896 came unexpectedly notifying for his departure to Spain where “the
best student was called an “emperor” and sat at the head of the bench, while the poorest
Minister of War will assign you to the Army of Operations in Cuba detailed to the Medical
student sat at the other end of the bench. During recesses, they had other activities such as
Corps.” His joy knew no bounds upon the receipt of the letter, for he would not only be free,
gardening and pruning trees, or built fires to get rid of the mosquitoes or put fertilizers in the
but would be travelling again. This inspired him to write the poem Song to the Traveller.
garden plots.
His four-year exile in Dapitan came to an end on July 31, 1896, and on the very same
Gymnastics was not part of the school program, but Rizal encouraged them to do
day, midnight, he boarded the streamer Espana with Josephine, Narcisa his sister, and
exercise to strengthen their bodies. Aside from gymnastics, they had other sports such as
Angelica, Narcisa’s daughter, three nephews and three pupils. His departure was
swimming, wrestling, strong-throwing native fencing, and boating.
characterized by a teary farewell from his pupils and the townsfolk who went to the shore,
He found Dapitan and its surroundings a rich field of specimens. Together with the with the town brass playing Chopin’s Funeral March. No one can fittingly describe the
students, he would go around in his baroto and explore the jungles and coasts. They collected emotional feelings of Rizal, except Zaide who wrote that:
different specimens of insects, frogs, lizards, snakes, shells, and plants. The exploration
“As its melancholy melody floated in the air, Rizal must have felt deeply, for with his
added to the students’ knowledge aside from their work under the trees.
presentiment of death, it seemed an obsequy to a requiem.
… As the steamer pushed put into the sea, Rizal gazed for the last time on Capitan
Accomplishments with his hands saying in farewell salute to its kind and hospitable folks and with a crying
heart filled with tears of nostalgic memories.”
By the end of his exile, Rizal was able to master 22 languages, four languages in the
Philippines such as: Tagalog, Ilocano, Bisaya, and Subanon, and 18 foreign languages such When the shorelines of Dapitan were no longer visible, Rizal went to his cabin and
as English Spanish, French, German, Latin, Greek, Arabic, Malay, Sanskrit, Dutch, Catalan, wrote the exact same time that he had been in Dapitan: “I have been in that district, four
Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish, and Russian. years, thirteen days and a few hours.”
He made use of his artistic skills in making sketches of persons and things that Thus his travel began with his new freedom and to go into the next chapter of his life.
He knew he would never be back again to see this place, where he spent some happy years o It was during this period of stay on board the Castillas, that the outbreak of the
and part of his life. Philippine Revolution occurred. From the newspaper, Rizal learned of the "Cry
of Balintawak" and the "Pinaglabanan Incident" at San Juan, where many
Filipinos died. Rizal felt that the revolt was premature and feared the
Chapter 15 In the Trap - Governor Blanco’s Duplicity repercussions and the consequences that may follow against the Filipino
patriots.
His Voyage to Manila
o Eleven days after the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, or on August 30,
o Rizal enjoyed his trip to Manila, not only was he imbued with the spirit of freedom but 1986, after the Governor-General proclaimed a state of war in the eight
also that of a traveler’s enthusiasm of seeing many islands on the way. provinces of Manila (as a province), Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna,
Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac, Rizal received two identical letters of
o He passed by Dumaguete and described it as a place where "it spreads out on the bench."
introduction, for the Minister of War and the Minister of Colonies. Below is the
He stopped at Cebu and stayed at the house of Attorney Mateos and met an old couple who
letter written by the Governor for General Marcelo de Azcarraga, the Minister
was known to him in Madrid.
of War (68):
o Here in Cebu, he performed two operations, one of "strabotomy, on the ears, and another
of tumor" (67). On the third day of August, he was in Iloilo and visited Molo and saw some
paintings in a church. From here, the ship sailed on, without anchoring, passing by Capiz, Most Excellent Marcello de Azcarraga
Romblon and soon they were on their way to Manila.
My esteemed General and distinguished friend,
o The boat arrived in Manila Bay early morning of Thursday, only to find out that he had
missed the boat Isla de Luzon bound for Spain. Much to disappointment, it had left the
previous afternoon, but felt resigned to the unlucky incident. However, uneasy and fearful
I recommend to you with genuine interest Dr. Jose Rizal who is departing for
of what might happen to him while in Manila, he requested the Spanish government to
the Peninsula at the disposal of the Government, ever desirous of rendering his
isolate him from everybody except the members of the family.
services as physician to the Army of Cuba.
o In acceding to his request, the Governor assigned him to a Spanish cruiser Castilla where
His conduct during the four years that he was in exile in Dapitan has been
he stayed about a month, while waiting for a Ship bound for Spain. The ship's captain was
exemplary and he is, in my opinion, the more worthy of pardon and benevolence as
a friendly one, who gave him good accommodations and who considered Rizal as a friend
he is in no way involved either in the criminal attempt that we are lamenting these
and guest on board the ship.
ys or in any conspiracy or secret society that they have been plotting.
Outbreak of the Philippine Revolution With this object I have the pleasure to remain,your most affectionate friend and
colleague who kisses your hand,
o The day of August 19, 1986 will forever remain in the hearts of every Filipino as one of the
most important events in the Philippine History: The outbreak of the Philippine Revolution! Ramon Blanco
 o Together with the two identical letters, was Governor Blanco's letter for him. In a portion
of the letter, he started:
... I have no doubt that you will justify me before the Government, by your future behavior not
only for your word of honor but because the present happening must have shown you palpably
that certain actions which are the product of foolish ideas yield no result but hatred,
destruction, tears and blood.
o The letter and its invocation of his word of honor could have been one of the factors that
made him refuse various offers of rescue and escape and sent him to his death.
o Prior to his departure, he wrote his mother a letter informing her of his departure for
Cuba and his concern about their future with the outbreak of the revolution. While fearful
of the possible events and repercussions the government may be taking, Rizal, nevertheless,
invoked the power of Divine Providence and placed in His hands, his life and future.
o Boarding the steamer, Isla de Panay, Rizal started his trip for Barcelona, Spain. Among
the passengers in the ship were Don Pedro Roxas, a rich industrialist, with his son, Periquin,
who were then bound for Singapore, who feared for Rizal's safety. The two advised Rizal
to stay in Singapore and take advantage of British protection, but Rizal refused them, as he
said he "gave his word of honor" to Governor Blanco.
The Trap
o But unknown to Rizal was the treacherous plan of the man whom he gave his honor,
plotting a trap for him which was now being laid. Fernandez (69) gives a lucid account of
what was happening behind the scenes.
o The truth of the matter, as now substantiated by the declassified documents in the
Ministries of War and Colonies, Blanco was his implacable foe, who regarded him as a
dangerous Filipino who was responsible for the raging Philippine Revolution, and
therefore plotted his doom.
o Just after the steamer left Port Said, Rizal heard of his impending arrest from a fellow
passenger. He would be arrested by order of Governor-General and would be sent to a
Blanco prison in Ceuta in the Spanish Morocco.
o He was shocked at the news and belatedly realized that he had fallen into the trap set by
the sly governor. Alarmed at his situation, he immediately wrote to his best friend,
Blumentritt, which run as follows (70).
S.S. Isla de Panay, Mediterranean
September 28, 1886
My very dear friend,
A passenger on board has just told me that I can hardly believe and should it be true,
would bring too an end the prestige of the Philippine authorities.
| cannot believe for it would be the greatest injustice and the most abominable infamy,
unworthy of a military official, but of the last bandit. I have offered to serve as a physician,
risking my life in the hazards of war and abandoning all my business.
I am innocent and now in reward, they are sending me to prison!!
I cannot believe it! This is infamous; but it turns out to be true, as everybody assures
me, I am communicating to you this news so that you may appraise my salvation.
Yours,(Signed)
Jose Rizal
o In that letter, he gave the purpose of writing his friend, that is to inform him of his present
situation, so that if anything happened to him, his friend was forewarned.
The Arrest
o True to what the informer had said, the process of arrest was to begin on September 30,
1896, at 4:00 P.M. When he was officially notified by Captain Alemany, the ship's captain,
to confine himself within his cabin, per orders from the Spanish authorities in Manila.
o Rizal arrived in Barcelona as a prisoner, being kept under heavy guard for three days,
and was transferred to the custody of the Military Commander of Barcelona, who
incidentally was General Eulogio Despujol, the same person who had signed his exiled
order to Dapitan. The two adversaries met again.
o On his second day in Barcelona, he was escorted to the infamous prison-fortress of
Monjuich. In the early afternoon of the same day, he was brought to the headquarters of
General Despujol, who informed him that he would be shipped back to Manila on board
the transport ship Colon to face trial.
CHAPTER 16:
His Trials and Execution
● Rizal left Barcelona for his return trip to the Philippines, On Oct. 6, 1886 to face
trial. It was probably the saddest moments of his life, seeing the clouds of doom
hovering over his head. No one can really fathom his feelings nor describe his
emotions knowing what was to come and what was to happen, that he felt an
impulse to record all the events in his diary.
● He wrote that the “officer of the day seemed amiable, refined and polite, consistent
with the seriousness of his duty”, while on board the ship, fellow passengers did
nothing but “slander me and invent fanciful stories about me.”
● I’m going to become a Legendary Personage, “because as he was informed later by
a friendly officer, Madrid newspapers were full of publications concerning his so
called leadership in the bloody revolution.”
● He then felt that “God was doing me a blessing, allowing me to go back to the
Philippines to be able to destroy such accusations.” Knowing that Rizal was keeping
a diary, the Spanish authorities curious of what he was writing about confiscated it.
● However, they could find nothing incriminating in it that it was returned after
nineteen days, the reason why Rizal’s diary does not contain entries from October
11 to November 1. In his November 2 entry in the diary, he revealed that they not
only confiscate the diary, but also searched his baggages and personal belongings.
● They then placed him behind bars and were not taken out until they reached the Red
Sea, and that in Singapore, twice they put him in handcuffs. The Spanish authorities
on board the ship were taking extreme precaution of possible rescue and escape of
the prisoner.
Failed Rescue in Singapore
❏ The Spanish authorities on board the ship were right to exercise extreme vigilance
over their prisoner.
❏ Friends in Europe and Singapore did try to rescue him. Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor
and Sixto Lopez sent telegrams to an English Lawyer, Hugh Fort to rescue Rizal
from the Spanish steamer when it arrives in Singapore using a legal strategy, the
use of the writ of habeas corpus, alleging that Rizal was illegally detained by the
Spanish authorities.
❏ Unfortunately, the writ was detained by Chief Justice Lionel Cox, on the ground
that it was a warship of a foreign power carrying troops to the Philippines and that
under international law; the ship was therefore beyond jurisdiction of the civil
courts. Rizal never knew of this contemplated rescue plan, since he was behind bars.
❏ To successfully convict Rizal, his enemies gathered evidence against him by having
his friends arrested and tortured to implicate him. Among these were Dr. Pio
Valenzuela, Moises Salvador, Jose Dizon, Timoteo Paez, Pedro Serrano Laktaw,
Dominggo Paez and Rizal’s own brother, Paciano.
❏ His brother suffered most, with his body broken over the torture rack and his left
hand crushed with the screw, but like a hero, his spirit never gave in and remained
unbroken.
Preliminary Investigation
The Preliminary Investigation that followed constituted a five-day gruelling, of being
informed of the charges, questioning by the Judge Advocate.
But he was deprived of his right to confront those who testified against him, but was
confronted both documentary and testimonial evidences. The following documents serve
as the basis of the charges by the prosecution (71):
1. A letter of Antonio Luna to Mariano Ponce dated Madrid, October 16, 1888,
showing Rizal’s connection with the Filipino reform campaign in Spain.
2. Rizal’s Letter to his family dated Madrid, August 20, 1890 stating that the
deportations are good for they will encourage people to hate tyranny.
3. A letter from Marcelo H. del Pilar to Deodato Arellano, dated Jan. 7, 1889,
implicating Rizal in the propaganda campaign in Spain.
4. A poem entitled “Kundiman”, allegedly written by Rizal in Manila, dated Sept.
12,1891, which contained the lines:
…She is a slave oppressed
Groaning in the tyrant’s grips;
Lucky shall he be
Who can give her liberty
5. A letter of Carlos Oliveros to an unidentified person, Barcelona, dated Sept. 18,
1891, describing Rizal as the man to free the Philippines from Spanish oppression.
6. A Masonic document dated Manila. Feb. 9, 1892, honouring Rizal for his patriotic
services
7. A letter signed Dimasalang (Rizal’s pseudonym) to Tenluz dated Hong Kong, May
14, 1892, stating that he was preparing a safe refuge for Filipinos who may be
persecuted by the Spanish Authorities.
8. A letter of Dimasalang to an unidentified committee dated Hong Kong, June 1,
1892 soliciting the aid of the committee in the “patriotic work.”
9. An anonymous and undated letter to the Editor of the Hong Kong Telegraph,
censuring the banishment of Rizal to Dapitan.
10. A letter of Ildefonso Laurel to Rizal, dated Manila, Sept. 3, 1892, saying that
Filipino people look up to him (Rizal) as their savior
11. A letter of Ildefonso Laurel to Rizal, dated Manila, March 17, 1892, informing him
of an unidentified correspondent of the arrest and banishment of Doroteo Cortes and
Ambrosio Salvador.
12. A Letter of Marcelo H. del Pilar to Don Juan Tenluz, dated Madrid, June 1, 1893,
recommending the establishment of a special organization, independent of Masonry, to
help the cause of the Filipino people.
13. Transcript of speech of Pingkian (Emilio Jacinto), in a reunion of the Katipunan on
July 23, 1893, in which the following cry was uttered “Long live the Philippines! Long
live liberty! Long live Doctor Rizal! Unity!”
14. Transcript of speech of Tik-tik (Jose Turiano Santiago) in the same Katipunan
reunion, wherein the katipuneros shouted:” Long live the eminent Dr. Rizal! Death to
the oppressor nation!”
15. A poem by Laong Laan (Rizal) entitled “A Talisay” in which the author makes the
Dapitan school boys sing that they know how to fight for their rights.
There were testimonial evidences presented allegedly given by Martin Constantino,
Aguedo del Rosario, Jose Reyes, Moises Salvador, Dr. Pio Valenzuela, Timoteo Paez,
Antonio Salazar,Francisco Quizon, Domingo Franco, Jose Dizon, and Deodato
 Arellano not made in the presence of Rizal. But it must be recalled that some of these
persons were tortured brutally to implicate him. The oral testimonies could have been
forced and therefore fabricated, or they could have deliberately been misconstrued the
testimonies of these patriots.
On Nov. 26, the preliminary investigation was finished and the records were
transmitted to Governor Ramon Blanco by Colonel Olive, together with the
appointment of Capt. Rafael Dominguez as special Judge Advocate for the resolution
of the case based on “evidences” presented for the filing charges, which the latter
immediately did. Governor Ramon Blanco referred the matter to the Judge Advocate
General, Don Nicolas dela Peña for an opinion. The recommendations of the Judge
Advocate General were the following:
1. That Rizal be immediately brought to trial;
2. That he should be kept in prison;
3. That an order of attachment be issued against his property to the amount
of 1 million pesos as indemnity; and
Elbow to elbow, like a common criminal. There were many spectators, including
Josephine Bracken, some newspapermen and many Spaniards. There is no record to
establish the presence of Filipinos in the courtroom.
The defense showed a brilliant performance, arguing point by point the charges
against Rizal who wrote a supplementary defense which runs as follows (74):
1. He could not be guilty of rebellion, for he advised Dr. Pio Valenzuela in Dapitan
not to rise in revolution.
2. He did not correspond with the radical, revolutionary elements.
3. The revolutionists used his name without his knowledge. If he were guilty he could
have escaped in Singapore.
4. If he had a hand in the revolution, he could have escaped in a Moro vinta and would
not have built a home, a hospital, and bought lands in Dapitan.
5. If he were the chief of revolution, why was he not consulted by the revolutionists?
6. It was true he wrote the by-laws of the Liga Filipina, but this is only a civic
asscociation-not a revolutionary society.
7. The Liga Filipina did not live long, for after the first meeting he was banished to
Dapitan and it died out.
8. If the Liga was reorganized 9 months later, he did know about it.
9. The Liga did not serve the purpose of the revolutionists, otherwise they would not
have supplanted it with the Katipunan.
10. If it were true that there were some bitter comments in Rizal’s letters, it was because
they were written in 1890 when his family was being persecuted, being dispossessed of
houses, warehouses, land, etc. and his brother and all his brothers-in-law were deported.
11. His life in Dapitan had been exemplary as the politico-military commanders and
missionary priests could attest.
12. It was not true that the revolution was inspired by his one speech at the house of
Doroteo Ongjunco, as alleged by witnesses whom he would like to confront. His friends
knew his opposition to armed rebellion. Why did the Katipunan send an emissary to
Dapitan who is unknown to him? Because those who knew him were aware that he
could never sanction any violent movement.
After a short deliberation, the military court voted unanimously for a death sentence. On
the very same day, the court decision was forwarded to Governor-General Polavieja, and
after seeking the opinion of the Judge Advocate, the latter confirmed the verdict: to be shot
at the back on the morning of December 30 at Bagumbayan Field (now the Luneta). The
verdict of death runs as follows (75):
 Manila, December 28, 1896
Conformably to the forgoing opinion. I approve the sentence dictated by the Court Martial
in the present case, by virtue of which the death penalty is imposed on the accused Jose
Rizal Mercado, which shall be executed by shooting him at 7 o’clock in the morning of the
30th of this month in the field of Bagumbayan.
For compliance and the rest that may correspond, let this be returned to the Judge Advocate,
Captain Don Rafael Dominguez.
Camilo G. de Polaveja
Governor-General Polavieja, known in the Philippine History as the “blood and iron
governor” acted true to his name. And all those who participated in the trial of Dr. Jose P.
Rizal shall forever be condemned by those who believe in justice, freedom and due process
of law.
CHAPTER 17: THE DEATH OF A NATIONAL HERO
● The last days of Rizal were spent in meeting visitors, including Jesuit priests,
Josephine, and members of his family, a Spanish newspaper correspondent by the
name of Santiago Mataix, and some friends
● No one knew that he was writing a farewell poem
● He remained a Christian, resigned to his fate; brave and courageous to meet his
destiny
● The last hours of Rizal have been weel recorded(76) and are chronologically
arranged as follows:
December 29, 1896
6:00 AM - Captain Rafael Dominguez reads the death sentence to Rizal to be shot at
the back by a firing squad at 7:00 at Bagumbayan, the next day.
7:00 AM - Rizal was moved to the prison chapel, where he spent his last moments. His
first visitors were Father Miguel Saderra Mata (Rector of Ateneo Municipal) and
Father Luis Vita, a Jesuit priest and at one time his teacher.
7:15 AM - Rector Saderra left. Alone with his former teacher, Rizal reminded him of
the statuette of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which he had given him when he was an
Ateneo student.
It was sad that Father Vitta was expecting such reminiscence and got the statuette
from his pocket and gave it to him, which the latter happily placed on his table.
8:00 AM - Father Antonio Rosell arrived and replaced Father Vita, at the time that
Rizal was eating his breakfast. Upon invitation, Father Rosell ate with him for breakfast.
A few minutes later, Lt. Luis Travel de Adrade came and Rizal thanked him for his
work.
9:00 AM - Father Federico Faura arrived, Rizal reminded him of saying once that he
would lose his head for waiting the Noli and jokingly told him that he was indeed a
prophet
10:00 AM - Another of Rizal’s teacher, Father Jose Villaclara (of Ateneo) and Father
Vicente Balaguer, another Jesuit missionary, whom Rizal befriended in Dapitan visited
him. There was also the Spanish journalist, Santiago Mataix who interviewed Rizal for
his newspaper, El Heraldo de Madrid.
12:00 AM (noon) - 3:30 PM - He was alone and probably spent it in writing his “My
Last Farewell,” which he had inside his alcohol cooking stove. The cooking stove was
given to him as a gift by Paz Pardo de Tevera, wife of Juan Luna during his visit to Paris
in 1890. He also wrote his best friend Dr. F. Blumentritt, which runs as follows:
Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt
My dear Brother:
When you receive this letter, I shall be dead. Tomorrow at seven, I shall be shot; but,
I am innocent of the crime of rebellion.
I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.
 Goodbye, my best, my dearest friend, and never think ill of me.
Fort Santiago, December 29, 1896
(Signed) Jose
Rizal
Regards to the entire family, to Sta. Rosa, Loleng, Conradito, and Federico.
I am leaving a book for you as a last remembrance of mine.
3:30 PM - Father Balaguer returned to Fort Santiagoo and talked about Rizal’s
retraction of the anti-Catholic ideas in his anti-Catholic writings and beliefs and also
about his membership in the Masonry.
4:00 PM - His mother arrived. It was such a pitiful sight, with Rizal kneeling before her
and kissing her hand, and begging her forgiveness. No words can describe the pain both
had in their hearts so that it was difficult to separate mother and son as they were locked
in embrace with tears. A few moments, Trinidad entered the cell to fetch her mother
and it was to Trinidad that he whispered to her about “something” in the alcohol cooking
stove. After his mother and sister left, Fathers Villaclara and Estanislao March
entered the cell, with Father Rosell
6:00 PM - Don Silvino Lopez Tunon, Dean of the Manila Cathedral, with Father
Villaclara, visited him. Earlier, Fathers Balguer and March were there but left prior to
the arrival of Don Silvino.
8:00 PM - After taking the supper, Rizal informed Captain Domiguez that he forgave
all his enemies including the military judges who sentenced him to death.
9:30 PM - The fiscal of the Royal Audiencia in Manila came to visit him. His pleasant
conversation with Rizal, gave him a good impression of the prisoner’s intelligence and
noble character.
10:00 PM - Father Balaguer visited Rizal for him to sign a retraction sent by
Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda, who was perceived to be anti-Filipino, which was
however rejected on the ground that it was too long, but it was said that he came back
with a shorter one. Rizal’s retraction of his Masonary and anti-Catholic religious
beliefs is till today a controversial issue, with the Catholic Rizalists alleging that Rizal
did recent, and the Rizalist Scholars, claiming that the signature to the recantation papers
was forgery. Zaide (1994) nevertheless has to say this on the issue. The debate between
the two groups of Rizalists is futile and irrelevant. Futile in the sense that no amount of
evidence can convince the Masonic Rizalists that Rizal did not retract. It is likewise
irrelevant because it does not matter at all to the greatness of Rizal. Whether he retracted
or not, the fact remains he was the greatest Filipino hero.
The “Retraction Document of Dr. Rizal,” which has been the object of controversy,
runs as follow (77):
I declare that I am a Catholic, and in this religion, in which I was born and educated,
I wish to live and die.
I retract with all my heart anything in my words, writings, publications and conduct
that has been contrary to my character as a child of the Church. I believe and profess
what it teaches. I abominate Masonry as an enemy of the Church and as a society
prohibited by it.
The Diocesan Prelate, as the superior ecclesiastical authority may make this
manifestation public. I declare this spontaneously, in order to repair any scandal which
my acts may have caused and so that God and man may pardon me.
Manila, December 29th, 1896
(Signed) Jose
Rizal
(Witneses)
Juan del Fresno, Chief of the Guard Detail
Eloy, Moure, Adjuntant of the Plaza
Whether Rizal recanted or not, it is irrelevant, it is true, for it does make him less a
hero. His religious belief from the present point of view is a personal matter, which did
not affect his love for his country.
There is no record of what he did after the visit of Father Balaguer and recantation
papers, but for a few hours, Rizal was by himself, probably finishing his last poem and
masterpiece.
December 30, 1896
3:00 AM - The Fateful Day. Rizal heard mass, had confession and took Holy
Communion.
5:30 AM - After taking his last breakfast, he wrote two letters, the first addressed to his
family and the second to his brother, who had suffered but withstood torture and
physical punishment for him. There was always that special kind of relationship between
them till the end.
After he wrote his letters, Josephine Bracken, accompanied by his sister Josefa
arrived to bid him farewell. He embraced her for the last time while she was in tears and
give her a gift: a religious book entitled Imitation of Christ with a written inscription:
To my dear unhappy wife, Josephine
December 30th, 1896
Jose Rizal
6:00 AM - He wrote another letter to his beloved parents, asking for forgiveness for the
sorrows that he had given them, and thanking them for their sacrifices to give him a
good education.
6:30 AM - Rizal was prepared for the execution. A trumpet sounded in the stillness of
the morning to herald the event of the day. With four soldiers as advance guards. Rizal,
a few meters behind walking calmly towards “his rendezvous with death,” accompanied
by Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade, his defense counsel and two Jesuit priests, Fathers
March and Villaclara, followed by more soldiers behind him.
This time although his arms were tied behind from elbow to elbow, the rope was quite
loose and allowed his arms more freedom of movement. He was dressed in black suit,
with a black derby hat, black shoes but with white shirt and black tie.
Like any execution by musketry, muffled sound of drums rent the air, with the group
marching solemnly and slowly. Near the field a large group of spectators was out
probably to see how a hero dies.
As they were walking to the field, Rizal looked at the sky and made a remark to one
of the priests:
How beautiful it is today, Father. What morning could be more serene! How clear is
Corregidor and the mountains of Cavite! On mornings like this, I used to take a walk
with my sweetheart.
While passing in front of Ateneo, he asked one of the Father, if the college towers
were that of Ateneo’s, which was affirmed by one of the priests.
In the Bagumbayan field, now the Luneta, the group stopped and he walked slowly to
where he was told to stand - on a grassy lawn between two lamp posts, overseeing the
shores of the beautiful Manila Bay.
He took time to bid farewell to his companions, and firmly shook their hands. One of
the priests blessed him and offered a crucifix for him to kiss, which he did.
He then requested the commander of the firing squad to shoot him facing the firing
squad, which was refused, with the commander telling him of the orders that he had to
follow.
He did as ordered reluctantly and turned his back and faced the sea, even as a Spanish
military doctor, Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo asked his permission to feel his pulse
Nothing could be more extraordinary that for a man facing the firing squad who will
snuff out his life, as having a normal pulse. Rizal, man and martyr had no fear to die; to
die for his country; it was a rare opportunity and he would want it in no other way.
When the command “fire” was heard, Rizal made a supreme effort to face the firing
squad, and his bulled-riddled body instead turned to the right with his face facing the
morning sun. It was exactly 7:30 AM, Decmber 30th,1896, when Rizal died, a martyr’s
death, at the prime of his life, 35 years of age, five months and eleven days.
 No fitting description could be of his death as that which he wrote in his farewell
poem, particularly, the third stanza, which says:
I die just when I see the dawn break
Trough the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if olor is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Pour’d out at need for thy dear sake,
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.
No greater sound could have been exploded and heard all over the country, than that
shot that was fired on that fateful morning in Bagumbayan field, and no greater thunderous
fall than that of the Spanish empire.
While the Spaniards rejoiced and danced over the death of Rizal, little did they realize
that their days of power and oppression were numbered, for the Filipinos tooks a united stand
with the Philippine Revolution on their newly aroused nationalism born by the powerful
catalyst of Rizal’s mighty pen and of his herois death.
As it has been said “the pen is mightier than the sword” for it can destroy mountains
of antipathy and build boulders of unity. The impossible was now made possible.
No one can read or follow the life of Rizal without a feeling of pain, sorrow, tragedy
and loss. His was a life of never-ending tragedies; in spite of his good intentions. But virtue
has its own reward - that of being worshipped, idolized and looking up as a national hero.
Chapter 18 - The Women He Loved Before Josephine
- Rizal’s life is not complete without the colourful stories of the women he had loved
before he met Josephine.
· HIS FIRST LOVE – SEGUNDA KATIGBAK
- He experienced his first pangs of love at sixteen after his graduation from Ateneo
with a fourteen-year-old lass from Lipa, Batangas by the name of Segundina Katigbak. It
was during one of his visits to his maternal grandmother, who lived in Trozo, Manila, that
we saw her. She was a sister of his friend, Mariano, who incidentally was his companion
on that visit.
- Rizal described her as (78):
………rather shorts, with eyes that were eloquent and ardent at times and languid at others,
rosy-cheeked, with an enchanting and provocative smile, that revealed very beautiful teeth
and the air of a sylph; her entire self diffused a mysterious charm.
- He often times visited her at La Concordia College, where his sister Olymia was also
studying. Although it was evident that they were in love with each other, and theirs was a
case of love at first sight, their love was doomed from the start, since Segunda was
engaged to marry her townmate, Manuel Luz.
- Rizal also, due to his shyness, failed to propose to her but he kept a record of his
feelings and the end of his dream by saying (79):
……..My virgin heart will always mourn the reckless step it took on the flower-decked
abyss. My illusions with return, yes but with different, uncertain, ready for the first betrayal
on the path of love.
· MISS L (JACINTA IBARDO LAZA)
- During his medical studies at the University of Santo Tomas, Rizal was not only
surrounded by women, but he also had more time for them.
- Having experienced a painful first love, he felt that he was now more mature and
experienced.
- So that these feelings made him confident and he started paying court to a young
woman from Calamba. But strangely, after many visits, he stopped his courtship and their
romance died a “natural death”.
*Rizal could only be a discreet man, for the identity of the woman was never divulged
although the reasons for his change of heart was given, namely:
(1) There was still the lingering memory of Segunda
(2) His father disapproved of the relationship.
· LEONOR VALENZUELA
- Rizal had another experience of love during his sophomore year in medical school,
still at the University of Santo Tomas, with a neighbor.
- During this time, he boarded in the house of Dona Concha Leyva in Intramuros, and
there next-door neighbors were Capitan Uan and Capitana Sanday Valenzuela from
Pagsanjan, Laguna, who had a daughter by the name of Leonor.
- Rizal was a welcomed visitor in the Valenzuela home, where he had his friends
frequently gathered especially during social gatherings, where he was most popular
because of his sleight-of-hand tricks. Using his knowledge in chemistry, he courted her
and sent her love notes written by invisible ink, which could be read only when heated by
a candle lamp. Their romance however like the others strangely ended.
· LEONOR RIVERA
- She was a cousin from Camiling, whom Rizal fell in love with during his junior year
at the medical school. While boarding in Intramuros, he met the pretty daughter of his
landlord uncle, Antonio Rivera. Leonor was a student at La Concordia College, where
Soledad, Rizal’s youngest sister likewise studied.
- Rizal describes her as a girl “tender as a budding flower with kind wistful eyes.” They
engaged and Leonor used a pen name “Taimis” in her letters to Rizal to hide their
relationship from their parents and friends.
- After finishing the fourth year of his medical course in Santo Tomas, he decided to go
Spain for further studies, disillusioned by the anti-Filipino attitude of the priest in Santo
Tomas. His brother and sister readily approved of his plans, likewise his Uncle Antonio
Rivera, the Valenzuela family and some friends.
- He did not inform his parents as he expected them to disapprove, nor did he take
Leonor, his girlfriend into his confidence over this matter. But prior to his departure, he
wrote a letter to Leonor, which was delivered shortly after he had sailed away. Four
months after, his sister Panggoy informed him that Leonor Rivera was unhappy and was
getting thinner because of his departure.
- There were many temptations that Rizal faced while away from home, and in spite of
his romances with other women, there was always Leonor in his mind; although there is
no record if they kept on communicating with one another.
- After the publication of the Noli in 1887, Rizal came home to the Philippines, in spite
of the warnings given to him by his friends and his family.
- Rizal had his reasons for coming home, and one of them was to inquire over the
silence of Leonor Rivera. But he failed to see her, although he attempted to go to
Dagupan where she was staying. He was prevented by his parents, telling him that
Leonor’s mother did not want him as a son-in-law. “He was caught within the iron grip of
the custom of his time that marriages must be arranged by the parents of both bride and
groom.
- It was in the autumn of 1890 while in Madrid, that Rizal received a letter from
Leonor informing him of her coming marriages to an Englishman, her mother’s choice,
and asking his forgiveness. He was stunned, and he cried over his lost love. So bitter and
frustrated was he over his loss, that he confided his misery to his best friend, Dr.
Blumentritt.
- To assuage his best friend’s grief, Blumentritt sent him a letter saying (80):
………My wife cannot understand how a human whom Rizal has honored with his love
would be able to abandon him; she is disgusted with that girl. I myself feel it deeply, but
only on your account, for I know how your heart is pained; but you are one of the heroes
who conquer pain from a wound inflicted by a woman, because the fallow higher ends.
You have a courageous heart and you are in love with a nobler woman, the Motherland.
Filipinas is like one of those enchanted princesses in the German legends, who is a
captive of horrid dragon, until she is freed by a valiant knight
- Leonor Rivera once gave Rizal a gold watch chain with lockets containing her
picture. He lost it when attending a play in Teatro Apolo and he considered bad omen
foreboding their separation
- In the latter part of 1882, Rizal met Consuelo Ortigas y Perez, the pretty and
vivacious daughter of Don Pablo Ortigas y Perez, former city mayor of Manila, during
the administration of the liberal Governor-General Carlos Ma. dela Torre, of the years
1869-1871.
· CONSUELO ORTIGAS y PEREZ
- He was lonely in a foreign country far from his family and native land; it was
inevitable that he should fall in love again. To her he composed a poem, entitled A La
Señorita C.O y P., expressing his joy and admiration of her.
* But before the romance could get any serious, he suddenly backed out for two reasons,
namely:
(1) He was still engaged to Leonor Rivera
(2) He had a potential rival in a person Edwardo de Lete, a member of the propaganda
movement and he no wish to break their friendship over a girl.
· O-SEI-SAN
inhabitants are so peaceful, so courteous, and so pleasant.
- Rizal left his country for the second time in February 1888, per advice of Governor-
General dela Torre, at the age of 27, an accomplished man of letters. One of the places he
travelled was Japan. It was in the land of the cherry blossoms that he'll be in love again
with a pretty woman who one afternoon passed by the Spanish Legation where he was
staying. He met O-Sei-San with the help of the Japanese gardener, when his Japanese
language failed him in his attempt to speak to the girl.
- The Japanese gardener explained to the girl that Rizal was a physician from the
Philippines, who was a guest of the legation. Since their first meeting, Rizal and O-Sei-
San met frequently, leading him like a tourist in various beautiful spots in the country.
Their constant companionship led to a beautiful relationship.
- Both found happiness in each other’s company. Rizal was then a lonely physician of
27 years old, disillusioned by his frustrated romance with Leonor Rivera and embittered
by Spanish injustices at home. O-Sei-San was a lonely samurai daughter of 23 years old
and had never yet experienced the ecstasy of true love. Affinity of interest in the arts
paved the way for romance.
- Rizal saw in her the qualities of beauty, charm, modesty and intelligence. O-Sei-San,
on the other hand, was impressed by his gallant and gentlemanly ways that she
reciprocated his feelings. She helped Rizal in various ways, especially in his mastery of
the Japanese language.
- Rizal could have settled down in Japan; everything seemed perfect. He would have
O-Sei-San, the rest of his life and a steady job at the Spanish Legation. If Rizal’s love for
his Motherland were not stronger, he would have succumbed to the temptations of living
in Japan permanently. But he loved the Philippines more, and his obsession for his
country was far greater.
- Not like his previous affairs, his romance with O-Sei-San had to end. He however,
paid tribute to her and his stay in Japan by writing in his dairy as one of the happiest
interludes in his life (82):
Japan has enchanted me. The beautiful scenery, the flowers, the trees, and the
 To O-Sei-San he continued:
O-Sei-San, Sayonara! I have spent a happy golden month; I do not know if I
can have another one like that in all my life-love, money, friendship, appreciation, honors -
these have not been wanting.
- Gertie tried to make Rizal happy, by showering him with her attention and care,
and like any man, Rizal was happy in her company and their relationship almost blossomed
into something more serious. However, for the same reason that he gave up O-Sei-San and
the women that he had admired and loved before, Rizal did not marry her and decided to go
away.

…To you I dedicate the final chapter of these memories of my youth. No

woman, like you, has ever loved me. No woman, like you, has ever sacrificed for me. Like the
flower of the chodji that falls from the stem, fresh and whole without falling leaves or without · NELLY BOUSTED
withering with poetry still despite its fall – thus you fell. Neither have you lost your purity nor
have you the delicate of your innocence faded. Sayonara, Sayonara!

- Although Madrid may be dubbed as one of the gayest cities in the world, it was not
for Rizal, for it is here that he experienced many disappointments – his failure to get
- Rizal Boarded the English steamer Belgic on April 13,1888 bound for the United
justice for this family, his aborted duels with Juan Luna and Retana, his conflict with
States passing through Yokohama, leaving Japan, the land of cherry blossoms with a
Marcelo H. del Pilar over the control of La Solidaridad and the news of the marriage of
heavy heart after a 45-day stay. Rizal’s feeling for O-Sei-San was not just infatuation, he
Leonor Rivera.
truly loved her passionately.
- He decided to leave the place to take a vacation in the city of Biarritz on the French
- O-Sei-San is one of the women in Rizal’s life where he made explicit his true love
Riviera, an ideal setting for romance, for in this fabulous place, he found another woman,
for her, even though it was only recorded in his diary.
Nelly Bousted, the daughter of a friend.
- It was said that O-Sei-San mourned over the departure of Rizal for a long time. He
- At the beginning, he was warmly welcomed by the Bousted family, especially Mr.
was her first love, but eventually, she resigned her fate and married a British teacher in
Bousted, who greatly admired him because of his talents. His grieving heart slowly
chemistry of the Peers School in Tokyo, according to Mr. Alfred Charlton.
recovered especially with his new found feelings for Nelly, to be a real “Filipina highly
intelligent, vivacious in temperament and morally upright.”

· GERTRUDE BECKETT
*But there were two stumbling blocks to the marriage:
- In his stay in London, he boarded with the Beckett family. There were two sons and
four daughters in the family, and the oldest among the sisters was Gertrude, called Gertie (1) Religious difference
or Tottie by friends. She was described as a “buxom girl, with brown eyes, and rosy
cheeks” who fell in love with Rizal. (2) The disapproval of Nelly’s mother.
- Nelly was a devout Protestant and wanted Rizal to be converted but Rizal, like a man
of honor, refused. Although he was a Mason, he still adhered to his Catholic religion, the
faith that he was born in and he recalled that when in exile in Dapitan, he debated with
Father Pastells on his accusations of being a Protestant saying that “if you reverence only
knew what I had lost for not accepting Protestantism, you would not say such a thing.
Had I not always respected the religious idea, had I held a religion as a matter of
convenience, or an art of getting along in his life, instead of living an exile in Dapitan, I
would now be a rich man, free and covered with honors” (83).
- Nelly’s mother was ambitious and like any mother wanted her daughter to have the
best things in life, which she thought could never be had, if Rizal, a poor man, married
her daughter. Although their romance ended, they parted as friends.
· THE LAST WOMAN IN HIS LIFE LIFE –
JOSEPHINE BRACKEN
- Josephine Bracken came into Rizal’s life at the right time and at the right moment.
After a day’s hard work in Dapitan, he was lonely and left that there was something
missing in his life. Boredom had slowly crept in and he longed for something that he
could not understand. He recalled his happy sojourn in the various places of the world,
his happy childhood in Laguna but more poignantly, the death of Leonor Rivera.
- And one day Josephine Bracken, an Irish girl of eighteen, described as a “slender
chestnut blond, with blue eyes, dressed with elegant simplicity, with an atmosphere of
light gayety” came into his life. She was born in Hong Kong on October 3, 1876, fifteen
years younger than Rizal. Her parents were Irish, her father corporal in the British
garrison, and mother Elizabeth Jane Macbride (84), who died when she was born. She
was later adopted by Mr. George Taufer, who later became blind.
- There was no ophthalmic surgeon in Hong Kong, but they had heard of the famous
one in the Philippines, so they came to Dapitan, to seek the services of Dr. Rizal. They
were accompanied by a Filipina by the name of Manuela Orlac and presented a card of
introduction by Julio Llorente, a friend and schoolmate.
- As fate would have it, Rizal and Josephine fell in love and after a whirlwind
romance, they decided to get married, but father Obach of Dapitan refused to marry them
without the consent of the Bishop of Cebu. This reached the ears of Mr. Tuafer, who got
mad and attempted suicide even before the presence of Dr. Rizal, who prevented it in
time.
- To prevent further embarrassment and untoward incident, Josephine went with Mr.
Taufer to Manila by the first available steamer Mr. Taufer returned to Hong Kong alone
uncured, because his blindness was venereal in nature and incurable, while Josephine
stayed with Rizal’s family. She later returned to be with Rizal in Dapitan. Since there was
no priest who would marry them, they married themselves by holding their hands and
making their vows before God. After that they lived as man and wife (85), much to the
irritation of Father Obach.
- The couple were happy and lived an idyllic life in Dapitan. To Rizal, he found his
life complete. As he was wont to do, he likewise wrote a poem to Josephine which is as
follows (86).

Josephine, Josephine
Who to these shores have come
Looking for a nest, a home,
Like a wandering swallow;
If your fate is taking you
To Japan, China or Shanghai.
Don’t forget on these shores
A heart for you beats high.
- Dapitan will always hold a part of Rizal, for in this territory, their premature eight-
month baby boy who lived only for three hours was buried. Rizal was extremely happy at
his expectations of having a child, and one night played a prank in Josephine who was
frightened and gave birth prematurely.
- On July 31, 1869, Rizal’s exile in Dapitan ended, and boarded the boat on the
midnight of the same day for Manila, with Josephine, Narcisa, Angelica (Narcisa’s
daughter) and three nephews and six pupils. Both Rizal and Josephine left the place
where they had been happy, with a heavy heart, after a teary farewell from the natives.
- Nothing specific is mentioned about Josephine in the life of Rizal after his aborted
trip to Spain towards Cuba where he volunteered as a military Doctor; was arrested and
brought back to the Philippines expect during his trial and the last Christmas he spend
with his family, and five days before his execution. And the last time her name is
mentioned is on the day of his execution itself where she accompanied by Rizal’s sister,
Josefa, was one of the last members of the family to bid him goodbye.
Rizal as a man was selective in his romance with women. He was not only attracted to the
physical beauty possessed by her but also her character and intellect as well. No one among
the women he had loved before is as popular as Leonor Rivera, who many authors believe
that she is the Maria Clara often mentioned in one of his novels. Each of his women,
however, had a rival for his love and that was his love for his country.
Chapter 19 - POEMS
● Only Rizal among the Filipino heroes has left a legacy of rich literature to posterity.
● He always felt an urge to record everything happening around him
● Rizal wrote poems even without the knowledge of poetic meter
● His being a poet was an innate ability
● His mother taught and corrected his poetic composition or criticized them
● “To My Fellow Children”
○ He manifested first his nationalistic sentiments
○ In this poem, he said that “a people who truly love their native language will
surely strive for liberty, like a bird which soars to freer space above.”
○ He averred that the filipino language was equally as elegant as that of the
other languages, Latin, English, Spanish and others.
○ The poem was written when rizal was only 8 years old.
○ It portrayed mastery of an expert poet.
● “ Mi Primera Inspiracion” (My first inspiration)
○ Dedicated to his mother (during his mom’s bday)
○ Wrote it when he was 14 years old
● Rizal was a versatile poet
● He could write on any topic that had an impact on his life
● He had a very high regard for education for he believed that the progress and welfare ■ This marital poem describes the defeat and capture of Boabdil, last
of a nation were dependent on it Moorish sultan of Granada
● His advice to the revolutionary leaders that freedom should be attained by peaceful ● The poems he wrote in 1877:
means: by education and industry ○ El Heroism de Colon (the heroism of columbus)
● “ Through Education Our Motherland Receives Light” ■ The poem praises columbus for his adventurous spirit and his success
○ Inspired by his beliefs “freedom should be attained by peaceful means: by as an explorer
education and industry” ○ Colon y Juan ( Columbus and John II)
■ This poem relates how the king of portugal, John II missed frame and
● “The Intimate Alliance Between Religion and Good Education” riches by his failure to finance the expedition of columbus to the new
○ Shows the important relationship between religion and education world
○ Gran Consuelo en la Mayor Desdicha ( A farewell dialogue by the students)
● “To Child Jesus” and “ To the Virgin Mary” ■ This is a virtual farewell poem of Rizal written during his last days in
○ His religious poems Ateneo.
● “To the Filipino Youth”
● After his mother’s imprisonment, he wrote many poems, mostly inspired by his friend ○ One famous poem written by rizal
and professor: Father Sanchez ○ About a virtual appeal to the youth of the land to do something for the
● The poems he wrote in 1875 were the ff (89): motherland
○ Felicitacion (felicitation) ○ It was the Winning classic in Philippine Literature for 2 reasons:
○ El Embarque Himno a la Flota de Magallanes ( The Departure: Hymn to ■ It was the first spanish poem written by a filipino, which gained
Magellan’s Fleet) recognition among known spanish authors
○ Y Es Español: Elcano, el Primero en dar la Vuelta al mundo ( And he is ■ It contained for the first time, the nationalistic sentiment insinuating
spanish elcano, the first to circumnavigate the world) that the filipinos and not foreigners were the “fair hope of the
○ El Combate: Urbiztondo, Terror de Jolo (The battle: Urbiztondo, Terror of fatherland”
Jolo) ● In 1879
○ “Abd-el-Azis Mahoma”
● In 1876 (rizal was 15 years old), he wrote other poems in various topics. Among ■ Declaimed by Manuel Fernandez, an Atenean on the occasion of
these are: Ateneo’s Patroness
○ Un Recuerdo a Mi Pueblo ( In memory of my town) ● In 1880 he wrote a sonnet:
■ which was also another tender poem about the town (calamba) where ○ “A filipinas”
he was born ■ He wrote this sonnet for the album of the society of sculptures.
■ 7 stanza poem ● In 1881 he composed a poem:
○ El Cuativerio y el Triunfo: Batalla de Lucena y Prisioni de Boabdil ( the ○ “AI M.R.P Pablo Ramon”
captivity and the triumph: battle of lucena and the imprisonment of boabdil) ■ The ateneo rector whom he considered as a very good and helpful
friend
 ○ “Amor Patrio” (Love of Country)
■ He wrote it in barcelona
■ Which is describe as a nationalistic essay wherein a pen name Laong
Laan was used.
■ Published in two weeks, one in tagalog and one in english
■ While the spanish text was the original written by rizal and appeared in
Diarong Tagalog on August 20, 1882
■ The tagalog version was a translation prepared by Marcelo H. Del
Pilar
■ The article cause sensation because of its nationalistic nature.
■ In this article rizal wrote to enjoin his compatriots to love their country
and to serve its interests.
○ “Los Viajes” (Travels) and “Revista de Madrid” ( Reviews of Madrid)
■ His second article
● It was 2 years later in Madrid, Spain that Rizal renewed his writing activity.
● He joined the Circulo Hispano Filipino (Hispano-Philippines Circle)
● “They Ask Me for Verses”
○ New year’s reception held on December 31, 1882
○ Sad poem
○ Each stanza contains 10 lines or is in iambic pentameter
○ The fourth stanza is only 9 lines and possible that the translator must have lost
1 line
● In the years 1882-1885, Rizal journeyed and stayed in PAris and then in Berlin
● In Spring of 1886 while viewing the cool banks of the Neckar River, he was
Fascinated by the blooming forget-me-nots along its banks
● “Flowers de Heilberg”(To the flowers of Heildelberg)
○ In Spring of 1886 while viewing the cool banks of the Neckar River, he was
Fascinated by the blooming forget-me-nots along its banks and was so
impressed and wrote this poem
○ One will note that the poetry style of rizal has changed not only in format but
also in meter
○ In this poem there is 1 stanza with 8 lines. One recalls that his mom taught
him poetry and even corrected and criticized his work
○ His mom was a remarkable woman whose influence is evident in his poetry
● In his first novel, Noli me Tangere, Inside it is a poem entitled “The Song of Maria
Clara”
● While an exile in Dapitan, Rizal wrote a poem about talisay where he built a school, a
hospital and a home
● His fave rendezvous with his pupils was beneath the talisay tree. The poem which he
asked his pupils to write has 6 stanzas 8 lines and a chorus of 7 lines.
● He also wrote a poem to Josephine
● “Song of the Traveler”
○ Was written when he received a letter from Governor Blanco on July 1, 1896,
that his volunteer application for medical service in Cuba was accepted
○ He was very happy and he thought at last he wqas free and that he was going
to travel more.
○ Sticks to 4 lines in this poem
● He wrote a poem for Lipa in 1888 “Hymn for the Labor” in commemoration of the
town’s elevation to a villa (city) by virtue of the Becerra law of 1888.
● “El Ultimo Adios” (My last farewell)
○ His last poem and the most famous
○ Written on the eve of his execution
○ The title of the poem was given by father Mariano Dacanay, a filipino priest-
patriot
○ It wwas published for the first time in La Independencia, a newspaper of
General Antonio Luna on September 25, 1898, almost 1 year and a half after
Rizal’s execution
○ There are 28 translation of the poem
○ But that made by Charles E. Darbyshire is considered more approximate to
the original
○ In this poem he maintains the format of having 5 lines to a stanza, with words
very well arranged to produce rhymes
○ During Rizal day, December 30 this was the poem that aroused the sentiments
of the Filipinos throughout the islands and in unison stood for the Philippine
Revolution that hastened the fall of the spanish empire
 Chapter 20
Chapter 20 – His essay and Memoirs
Rizal did not only write poems but also essays, notes and other literary pieces of his memories,
mostly those that concerned him personally, his family, and his friends.
Rizal could not forget the story about the moth so that he wrote lengthily about it.
One night, all the family, except my mother and myself, went to bed early. Why, I do not
know, but we remained sitting alone. The candles had already been pit out. They had been blown
out in their globes by means of a curved tube of tin. The tube seemed to me the finest and most
wonderful plaything in the world. The room was dimly lighted by a single light of coconut oil. In
all Filipinos home such a light burns through the night. It goes out just us daybreak to awaken
people by its spluttering.
“The Children’s Friend” (El Amigo de los Niño s)
- My mother was teaching me to read in a Spanish reader called “The Children’s Friend”
(El Amigo de los Niño s)
- This book is described as rare and old copy
- Lost its cover and his sister made a new one
- “She had fastened a sheet of thick blue paper over the back and then covered it with a
piece of cloth.
Story/Narration : ( WA NAKO GI TYPE TANAN GUYS, ONLY THE PART NGA FEEL
NAKO IMPORTANT ) you can always read it under chapter 20 (53:12 magsugod)
This night my mother became impatient with hearing me read poorly. I did not
understand Spanish and so I could not read with expression. She took the book from me.
First she scolded me for drawing funny pictures on its pages. Then she told me to listen
and she began to read. When her sight was good, she read very well. She could recite well,
and she understood verse- making, too. Many times during Christmas vacation, my
mother corrected my poetical compositions and she made always valuable criticism.
While, paying attention to the reading . I (Rizal) was watching the cheerful flame. About
it, some little moths were circling in playful flights. Then I yawned, my mother noticed
that I was uninterested. She stopped reading and told me “ I am going to read a very
pretty story. Now pay attention”
My mother began to read me the fable of the young moth and the old one. She translated
it into Tagalog a little at a time.
While reading the story, my mother repeated the warning of the old moth. She dwelt upon
it and directed it to me. I heard her, but it is a curious thing that the light seemed to me
each time more beautiful , the flame more attractive. I really envied the fortune of the
insects. They frolicked so joyously in its enchanting splendor that the ones which had
fallen and been drowned in the oil did not cause me any dread.
I watched it with my whole soul… It had died a martyr to its illusions. As she put me to
bed, my mother said “ See that you do not behave like the young moth. Don’t be so
disobedient, or you may get burnt as it did.”
The story revealed to me things until then unknown. Moths were no longer insignificant
insects. The light seemed to me more beautiful . It had grown more dazzling and more
attractive. I knew why the moths circled the flame.
The death of the moth have a profound impression on Rizal and his life. He pictured
himself as the moth, “ fated to die as a martyr” for the love of his country.
Rizal also wrote the various experiences that he saw during his childhood in Calamba.
● In the late afternoon walks which he loved at the shores of Laguna de Bay with his pet
dog. He reflected on the sad conditions of the country and remembered a cruelty made by
Spaniards, and to which he wrote (102).
● I spent many many hours of his childhood down on the shore of the lake, Laguna de
Bay, thinking what was beyond. I was dreaming of what might be over on the other side of
the waves.
● Almost everyday in our town, we saw the Guardia Civil lieutenant caning and injuring
some unarmed and inoffensive villagers.
The villagers fault : while at the distance he had not taken of his hat and made his bow.
The Alcalde treated the poor villagers in the same way whenever he visited us.
In 1880
● Jose Rizal participated in a literary contest held to commemorate the fourth centennial
of the Death of Cervantes, opened to both Spaniards and Filipinos.
● He entered a drama entitled” “El Consejo de los Dioses” ( The council of the Gods) . The
judges were all Spaniards, who awarded first prize to Rizal’s entry because of “ its
literary superiority over the other”
The winning of this contest was a significant one, and in spite of the protests by the
Spanish community in Manila, primarily because
1.HE WAS AN INDIO
2. and THE SECOND PRIZE WAS AWARDED TO SPANIARD, D.N. Del Puzo
But it proved “the fallacy of the alleged Spanish superiority over the Filipinos)
●The drama was inspired by the Greek Classics and established an allegory with other
literary pieces of homer, Virgil and Cervantes.
● “ Junto al Pasig” (Beside the Pasig) - a zarzuela produced by Rizal ( it was rated as
mediocre)
On June 25,1884
● Rizal was invited as a guest speaker to honor Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion
Hidalgo for winning first and second prizes respectively in the contest in the National
Exposition of Fine Arts.
● The speech he gave was in Castillan, which was greeted with ovations from the
audience. He spoke of the University of the genius and which the two honorees were an
example, and chided the Spaniards for their bigotry and failure to see or accept that
principle.
IDK IF IMPORTANT BANI ( SPEECH NI NI RIZAL SA VICTORY NI LUNA AND
HIDALGO, mao ni mostly sud sa chapter 20 )
FULL TEXT OF HIS SPEECH:
In speaking before you, I am not scared by fear that you may listen to me with
lukewarmness. I come to join your enthusiasm, ours, the stimulus of youth, and you cannot
help but be indulgent. Sympathetic effluvia saturate the atmosphere , fraternal currents run in
all direction, generous souls listen, and consequently I do not fear for goodwill, you seek only
goodwill, and from that height where noble sentiments reside, you do not perceive pretty trifles,
you see the whole and judge the case , and you extend your hand to one who like me, desires
to join you in one single thought, in one single aspiration- the glory of genius, the splendor of
the motherland.

Here is in fact, the reason why we are gathered. In the history of nations there are
names that by themselves signify an achievements, that recall passion and greatness, names
that, like magic formula, evoke pleasant and smiling thoughts, names that became a pact, a
symbol of piece, a bond of love between the nations. The names of Luna and Hidalgo belong
to these; their glories illumine the two extremes of the globe – the East and the West , Spain
and the Philippines
Luna and Hidalgo are Spanish as well as Philippine glories. They were born in the
Philippines, but they could have been born in Spain, because genius knows no country, genius
sprouts everywhere , genius is light , air , the patrimony of everybody, cosmopolitan like space,
like life, like God
The patriarchal era in the Philippines is waning. The deeds of her of illustrious sons
are no longer wasted away at home . The oriental chrysalis is leaving the cocoon. The morrow
of a long day for those regions is announced in brilliant tints and rose – colored dawns, and
the race , fallen into lethargy during the historic night while the sun illumines other continents,
again awakens, moved by the electric impact that contact with Western peoples produces, and
she demands light, life, the civilization that at one time they bequeath her, thus confirming the
eternal laws of constant evolution, of change, of periodicity, of progress.
You know this well and you exult it. To you is due the beauty of the diamonds that the
precious stones; Europe gave them polish. And all of us contemplate proudly your work, we
are the flame , the breath, the material furnished.
They imbided over there the poetry of nature a nature grandiose and terrible in its
cataclysms, in its evolution, in its dynamism; a nature , sweet , tranquil and melancholy in its
manifestation constant, static; a nature that stamps its seals on all that it creates and produces.
Its children carry it wherever they go.
Analyze if not their character, their works and however slightly you may know that
people, you will see it in everything as forming their knowledge, as the substantial form, as the
raw material. It is not possible not to reflect on what one’s self feels, it is not possible to be one
thing and do something else.
The contradiction are only apparent, they are only paradoxes. In El Spoliarium
through that canvas, that is not mute , can be heard the tumult of the multitude, the shouting
of the slaves, the metallic clicking of the armor of the corpses, the sobs of the bereaved, the
murmurs of prayers, with such vigor and realism, as one bears the din of thunder in the midst
of the crash of the cataracts or the impressive and dreadful tremor, of the earthquake
The same nature that engenders such phenomena intervenes also in those stroke. On
the other hand, in Hidalgo’s painting the purest moment throbs, ideal expression of
melancholy, beauty, and weakness, victims of brute force; and it is because Hidalgo was born
under brilliant azure of the sky, to the coping of its sea breezes, in the midst of the serenity of
its lake, the poetry of its valleys, and the majestic harmony of its mountains and range.
For the reason in Luna’s are the shadows, the contrasts, the moribund lights, mystery
and the terrible like the reverberation of the dark tempests of the tropics, the lighting and the
roaring eruption of their volcanoes. For that reason Hidalgo is all light, color and harmony,
feeling, limpidity, like the Philippines in her moonlight nights on.
Her tranquil days, with her horizon that invite to meditation, and where the infinite
lulls. And both , despite being so distinct in themselves , in appearance at least, coincide at
bottom, as all our heart do in spite of notable differences. In reflecting glory with which they
surround their native land, both express the spirit of our social, moral, and political life;
mankind subjected to harsh tests; unredeemed mankind ; reason and aspiration in an open
struggle with preoccupation, fanaticism, injustices, because sentiments and opinions cut
passage through the thickest wall, because to them all bodies have pores , all are transparent ,
and if they lack pen, if the press does not help them, the palette and brushes will not only delight
the eye but also be eloquent tributes.
If the mother teaches her child her language in order that she may understand his joys,
his necessities or his sorrows, Spains, as mother, teaches also her language to the Philippines
in spite of the opposition to those myopic men and pigmies, who, desiring to insure the present
do not see the future, do not weigh the consequences rachitic wet nurses, corrupt and
corruptors, who tend to extinguish all legitimate feeling , who perverting the hearts of the
people, sow in them the germ of discord in order to reap later the fruits, the aconite, the death
of future generation.
But , I forget those miseries! Peace to those who are dead , because the dead; they lack
breath, soul, and worms corrode them! Let us not evoke their dismal mempry; let us not bring
their stench into midst of our rejoicings! Fortunately, brothers are larger in number ;
generosity and nobility are innate under the sky of Spain; all of you are a patent proof of that.
You have responded unanimously; you have helped and you would have done more if more
had been asked of you. Seated to share our supper and honor the illustrious sons of the
Philippines, you honor Spain because you have done very well.
The boundaries of Spain are neither the Atlantic nor the Cantabrigian nor the
Mideterranean it would be ignominious for the water to place a dam of her grandeur, to her
idea – Spain is there, there where her beneficent influence is felt, and though her flag ,might
disappear, there would remain her ,memory , eternal and imperishable. What does a piece of
red and yellow cloth matter, what do rifles and cannons matter, there where no fusion or ideas,
unity of principles, harmony of opinion exist?
Luna and Hidalgo belong as much to you as to us; you love them and we see in them
generous hopes, precious examples. The Filipino youth in Europe, ever enthusiastic, and other
whose hearts always remain young for the disinterestedness and enthusiasm, but the most
spontaneous and most voluntary of all the gift hitherto presented to be.
But the Philippines towards her illustrious sons was not yet satisfied, and desiring to
them free rein to the thoughts that bubble in the mind, to the sentiments that abound in the
heart, and to the words that escape from the lips, we have all come here to this banquet to join
our wishes, in order to give form to the mutual embrace of two races that love one another and
like one another, morally, socially and politically united for a period of four centuries, so that
they may form in the future one single nation in spirit, in their duties, in their views, in their
privileges.
I drink to the health of our artists Luna and Hidalgo, legitimate and pure glories of two
peoples! I drink to the health of the person who have lent them a helping hand on the dolorous
path of art. I drink to the health of Filipino Youth , sacred hope of nay native land, that they
may imitate such precious examples so the mother spain, solicitous and heedful of the welfare
of her provinces, implement soon the reforms she contemplated for a long time.
The furrow is ready and the ground is not sterile! And I drink finally for the happiness
of those parents who, deprived of the tenderness of their children, from those distant regions
follow them with moist eyes and palpating hearts across seas and space ; sacrificing on the
altar of the common welfare the sweet consolation that are scarce in the twilight of life,
precious and lonely winter flowers that sprout along the snow-white borders of the grave.
END OF SPEECH
On November 20-22, 1884 – on a student demonstration , due to the excommunication of
Dr. Morayta, Rizal wrote a lengthy letter to his family describing the riots and violence
prevailed.
The 1st paragraph of the letter , dated November 26, 1884 , as given below:
“ When the new Rector went to assume office next day, November 21, 1884, feeling were
much irritated, we were still seeing red, it was resolved not to return to classes as long as they
did not give us satisfaction, and remove the Rector. There were repeated shouts of “ Down
with Creus”
I was there also. On that day there were new encounter, new fights, wounded, came blows,
imprisonment, etc. it was not this same day, the 21st, when a police lieutenant and a secret
man wanted to seize Ventura and me, but he and I escaped. Two Filipinos were taken
prisoners.”

● After completing his studies in Madrid , Rizal went to Paris and Germany to specialize
in ophthalmology.
In the early part of 1886, Rizal arrived at Heidelberg city, famous for its old universities.
CHAPTER 21: HIS NOVELS
● His first novel, “Noli Me Tangere” , which means “Touch Me Not” , came off the
press in 1889.
● He actually started writing it toward the end of 1884, then finished the half of it in
1885 when he was in Paris, and then the last few chapters were written in the months
of April and June of 1886.
● The novel contains 63 chapters and an epilogue.
● The Noli is a tale of frivolity, drama, tragedy, humor and passion.
● He dedicated the Noli to the Phils. (To My Fatherland), this is his main part in the
said dedication :
Pg. 106
Recorded in the history of human sufferings is a cancer so malignant a
character that the least touch irritates it and awakens in the sharpest pains. Thus,
how many times, when in the midst of modern civilization I have wished to call thee
before me, now to accompany me in memories, now to compare thee with the other
countries, bath thy dear image presented itself showing a social cancer like to that
other!
Desiring thy welfare which is our own, and seeking the best treatment, I will
do with thee what ancients did with their sick, exposing them on the steps of the
temple so that every one who came to invoke the Divinity might offer them a remedy.
And to this end, I will strive to reproduce thy condition faithfully, without
discriminations ; I will raise a part of the veil that covers the evil, sacrificing to truth
everything , even vanity itself,as thy son I am conscious that I also suffer from thy
defects and weaknesses.
● Zaide (2017) explained that Noli Me Tangere is a Latin phrase, which means “Touch
Me Not” is a biblical phrase from the Gospel of Saint Luke.
● THE SYNOPSIS OF THE NOLI
Written in Spanish and published in 1887, José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere played a
crucial role in the political history of the Philippines. Drawing from experience, the
conventions of the nineteenth-century novel, and the ideals of European liberalism,
Rizal offered up a devastating critique of a society under Spanish colonial rule.
The plot revolves around Crisostomo Ibarra, mixed-race heir of a wealthy clan,
returning home after seven years in Europe and filled with ideas on how to better the
lot of his countrymen. Striving for reforms, he is confronted by an abusive
ecclesiastical hierarchy and a Spanish civil administration by turns indifferent and
cruel. The novel suggests, through plot developments, that meaningful change in this
context is exceedingly diffi]cult, if not impossible.
The death of Ibarra’s father, Don Rafael, prior to his homecoming, and the refusal of
a Catholic burial by Padre Damaso, the parish priest, provokes Ibarra into hitting the
priest, for which Ibarra is excommunicated. The decree is rescinded, however, when
the governor general intervenes. The friar and his successor, Padre Salvi, embody
the rotten state of the clergy. Their tangled feelings—one paternal, the other carnal—
for Maria Clara, Ibarra’s sweetheart and rich Capitan Tiago’s beautiful daughter, steel
their determination to spoil Ibarra’s plans for a school. The town philosopher Tasio
wryly notes similar past attempts have failed, and his sage commentary makes clear
that all colonial masters fear that an enlightened people will throw off the yoke of
oppression.
Precisely how to accomplish this is the novel’s central question, and one which Ibarra
debates with the mysterious Elias, with whose life his is intertwined. The privileged
Ibarra favors peaceful means, while Elias, who has suffered injustice at the hands of
the authorities, believes violence is the only option.
Ibarra’s enemies, particularly Salvi, implicate him in a fake insurrection, though the
evidence against him is weak. Then Maria Clara betrays him to protect a dark family
secret, public exposure of which would be ruinous. Ibarra escapes from prison with
Elias’s help and confronts her. She explains why, Ibarra forgives her, and he and Elias
flee to the lake. But chased by the Guardia Civil, one dies while the other survives.
Convinced Ibarra’s dead, Maria Clara enters the nunnery, refusing a marriage
arranged by Padre Damaso. Her unhappy fate and that of the more memorable Sisa,
driven mad by the fate of her sons, symbolize the country’s condition, at once beautiful
and miserable.
Using satire brilliantly, Rizal creates other memorable characters whose lives manifest
the poisonous effects of religious and colonial oppression. Capitan Tiago; the social
climber Doña Victorina de Espadaña and her toothless Spanish husband; the Guardia
Civil head and his harridan of a wife; the sorority of devout women; the disaffected
peasants forced to become outlaws: in sum, a microcosm of Philippine society. In the
afflictions that plague them, Rizal paints a harrowing picture of his beloved but
suffering country in a work that speaks eloquently not just to Filipinos but to all who
have endured or witnessed oppression.
● ANALYSIS OF THE NOLI
○ The Noli was considered to be a true story in terms of Philippine
Conditions prevailing that time in the country, during the last decades of
the Spanish rule
○ It was said that the places, situation, characters and the facts existed
were true
○ https://nolisummary.weebly.com/-blog/an-analysis-of-noli-me-tangere a
detailed analysis on Noli Me Tangere (super taas ang explanation sa yt
maloka kog type!!)
○ Maria Clara - Leonor Rivera
○ Elias - Rizal himself
○ Tasio, the Philosopher- Paciano, Rizal’s brother
○ .Father Salvi - Father Antonio Piernavieja , the hated Augustinian Friar
who was killed during the Revolution
○ Capitan Tiago - Capitan Sunico Hilario of San Nicolas
○ Donya Victorina - Donya Agustina Medel
○ Two brothers - Crisostomo Brothers of Hagonoy
○ Father Damaso was the typical domineering, immoral and arrogant friar during
Rizal’s time.
There is a missing chapter in the book, definitely following the CHAPTEr XXIV, “Elias
and Salome “, which was deleted by Rizal because of the economy , for financial
reasons.
● This chapter was about sweethearts Elias and Salome bade Spanish pursuers
and he had been shot and was seriously wounded. This chapter is a tale of
love. In the final manuscript, Elias was burned with Sisa in a funeral pyre.
● The Noli is a great novel, written in a beautiful language, words coming from a
man of passion and feeling and who had experienced the bitterness and
happiness of life.
● The novel caused a stir in the Spanish community, and one of those who was
outspoken in his criticism of the novel was Father Jose Rodriguez.
● Rizal wrote a satirical (sarcastic) booklet entitled “La Vision del Fray Rodriguez”
using one of his pen names, Dimas Alang.
● Rizal also wrote another satirical work in defense of the chargers of another
priest, Father Ponce, who was responsible for the banning of the novel.
HIS SECOND NOVEL : EL FILIBUSTERISMO (The Reign of The Greed)
● He started writing this in October 1887, while he was practicing medicine in Calamba
● The next year, he made some changes to the plot and corrected the characters.
● The last chapter of the novel was finished in Biarritz, in the famous French Riviera,
and this was also the time when he had a serious romance with Nelly Bousted in the
1980s.
 ● It was ready for publication on May 30,1891 after he made more revisions.
● It came out of the press on Sept. 18,1891, with the help of Valentin Ventura
● The novel was dedicated to the three martyr priests:Gomez, Burgos, Zamora.
● This novel was a sequel to Noli, it was less romantic, less idealistic, more revolutionary
and more open to the feelings against the Motherland.
● Rizal said himself that the Noli was better which coincides with the opinion of Marcelo
H. Del Pilar.
● Most of the characters of the Fili are carried over from the Noli, although the names
were changed.
● There was :
● Donya Victorina, a pro-Spanish woman and her henpecked husband, Tiburcio de
Espadana, who had deserted her
● Father Salvi, the Franciscan Friar
● Basilio - son of Sisa, who is a med student supported by Capitan TIago
● THERE WERE ALSO NEW CHARACTERS :
● Paulita Gomez- niece of Donya Victorina
● Ben-Zayb - a Spanish anti-Filipino journalist
● Father Sybila - Vice Rector of the University of Santo Tomas
● Father Camorra - parish priest of the town of Tianni
● Don Custodio - a Filipino, but pro-Spanish and holds a high position in the
government.
● Father Irene, a kind priest and friendly to the Filipinos
● Father Florentino - a retired and scholarly Filipino priest
● Isagani - poet-nephew of Father Florentino and lover of Paulita
● Juanito Pelaez -groom of Paulta
● Chinese Quiroga - who wanted to be the consul of Manila
THE SYNOPSIS OF EL FILIBUSTERISMO :
The protagonist of El Filibusterismo is a jeweler named Simoun. He is the new identity
of Crisostomo Ibarra who, in the prequel Noli, escaped from pursuing soldiers. It is
revealed that Crisostomo dug up his buried treasure and fled to Cuba, becoming richer
and befriending Spanish officials.
After many years, the newly fashioned Simoun returns to the Philippines, where he is
able to freely move around. He is a powerful figure not only because of his wealth but
also because he is a good friend and adviser of the governor general.
Outwardly, Simoun is a friend of Spain; however, in secret, he is plotting a terrible
revenge against the Spanish authorities. His two obsessions are to rescue his
paramour Maria Clara from the nunnery of Santa Clara and to foment a Philippine
revolution against Spain.
The story of El Filibusterismo begins on board a steamer ship sailing up the Pasig
river from Manila to Laguna de Bay. Among the passengers are Simoun; Doña
Victorina, a pro-Spanish native woman who is going to Laguna in search of her
henpecked husband, Tiburcio de Espadaña, who has deserted her; Paulita Gomez,
her beautiful niece; Ben-Zayb (anagram of Ibañez), a Spanish journalist who writes
silly articles about the Filipinos; Padre Sibyla, vice-rector of the University of Santo
Tomas; Padre Camorra, the parish priest of the town of Tiani; Don Custodio, a pro-
Spanish Filipino holding a position in the government; Padre Salvi, thin Franciscan
friar and former cura of San Diego; 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 and promising medical student, whose medical education is financed by his
patron, Capitan Tiago.
A man of wealth and mystery, Simoun is a very close friend and confidante of the
Spanish governor general. Because of his great influence in Malacañang, he was
called the “Brown Cardinal” or the “Black Eminence”. By using his wealth and political
influence, he encourages corruption in the government, promotes the oppression of
the masses, and hastens the moral degradation of the country so that the people may
become desperate and fight. He smuggles arms into the country with the help of a rich
Chinese merchant, Quiroga, who aspires to be Chinese consul of Manila. His first
attempt to begin the armed uprising did not materialize because at the last hour he
hears the sad news that Maria Clara died in the nunnery. In his agonizing moment of
bereavement, he did not give the signal for the outbreak of hostilities.
After a long time of illness brought about by the bitter loss of Maria Clara, Simoun
perfects his plan to overthrow the government. On the occasion of the wedding of
Paulita Gomez and Juanito Pelaez, he gives a wedding gift to them a beautiful lamp.
Only he and his confidential associates, Basilio (Sisa’s son who joined his
revolutionary cause), know that when the wick of his lamp burns lower the
nitroglycerine, hidden in its secret compartment, will explode, destroying the house
where the wedding feast is going to be held killing all the guests, including the
governor general, the friars, and the government officials. Simultaneously, all the
government buildings in Manila will be blown by Simoun’s followers.
As the wedding feast begins, the poet Isagani, who has been rejected by Paulita
because of his liberal ideas, is standing outside the house, sorrowfully watching the
merriment inside. Basilio, his friend, warns him to go away because the lightened lamp
will soon explode.
Upon hearing the horrible secret of the lamp, Isagani realizes that his beloved Paulita
is in grave danger. To save her life, he rushes into the house, seizes the lightened
lamp, and hurls it into the river, where it explodes.
The revolutionary plot is thus discovered. Simoun is cornered by the soldiers, but he
escapes. Mortally wounded, and carrying his treasure chest, he seeks refuge in the
home of Padre Florentino by the sea.
The Spanish authorities, however, learns of his presence in the house of Padre
Florentino. Lieutenant Perez of the Guardia Civil informs the priest by letter that he
will come at eight o’clock that night to arrest Simoun.
Simoun eludes arrest by taking poison. As he is dying, he confesses to Padre
Florentino, revealing his true identity, his dastardly plan to use his wealth to avenge
himself, and his sinister aim to destroy his friends and enemies.
The confession of the dying Simoun is long and painful. It is already night when Padre
Florentino, wiping the sweat from his wrinkled brow, rises and begins to meditate. He
consoles the dying man saying: “God will forgive you Señor Simoun. He knows that
we are fallible. He has seen that you have suffered, and in ordaining that the
chastisement for your faults should come as death from the very ones you have
instigated to crime, we can see His infinite mercy. He has frustrated your plans one
by one, the best conceived, first by the death of Maria Clara, then by a lack of
preparation, then in some mysterious way. Let us bow to His will and render Him
thanks!”
Watching Simoun die peacefully with a clear conscience and at peace with God, Padre
Florentino falls upon his knees and prays for the dead jeweler. The priest then takes
the treasure chest and throws it into the sea
THE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TWO BOOKS
● El Fili is shorter since it only has 38 chapters
● Dr. Rfael Palma, Dr. Blumentritt and Graciano Lopez Jaena consider the FIli superior
for its “correct and easy dialogue”.
● Lopez Jaen, however, was not satisfied with the ending of the novel, and advised Rizal
to do a third book and give that 1 a definite solution to what he referred to as the
“coming of the beautiful day of our redemption”
● Mariano Ponce claimed that the Fili was more superior than the Noli when he said ,” It
is indeed excellent, I can say nothing of the book, but this, it really is marvelous, like
all brilliant productions of your pen. It is a true twin of Noli.
● The 3rd opinion is best expressed by Zaided (111) when he said that “The issue of
which is superior nivel - the Noli or Fili is purely academic. Both are good novels from
the point of view of history. Both depict with realistic colors of the actual conditions
of the Phils. And the Filipinos during the decadent days of the Spanish rule.”
MAKING HIS 3RD NOVEL : AN ATTEMPT
 ● Rizal attempted to write a 3rd novel with the advise of Ponce
● It was about the consecration on the ethical aspect of customs and traditions in the
country. It was never finished.
● It was said that it was best that he did not finish the novel, for there would’ve been
more repercussions.

CHAPTER 22: RIZAL’S ROLE IN THE REVOLUTION

- Rizal: man with “nobility of character”

- He saw “unrestrained brutality” in Calamba when a lieutenant was caning villagers
- “To the Filipino youth” - showed unconscious beginnings of nationalism, which
invoked the youth of the land to “break the chains that have long bound the spirit
of the people”
- It was in UST where he experienced BITTER moments:
1. Priests were anti-Filipino
2. He was a victim of cruelty (guardia civil brutally slashed him)
- It was in Spain where he had “a secret mission”
- FIRST priority was to finish medical degree
- Mission: to alleviate sufferings of the Filipinos
- In 1882, Madrid - he joined a society of Spaniards and Filipinos called Circulo Hipano-
Filipino
- It was here where he wrote “They ask me for verses” - showed love for country
and painful to see her suffer
“The land that I call my own by me forgotten ne’er to be…”
- 2 years later, June 25, 1884 - speech for Luna and Hidalgo
- Bleak winter of 1886, WORST financial condition - time that Noli was published
- It was supposedly a collaborative work but they failed to contribute
- Excommunication of Dr. Miguel Morayta - “freedom of science and the teacher”
resulted in bloody riots
- Dr. Maximo Viola loaned him funds
- RIzal prophesied “The govt will attack the work but I trust in God of Truth…”
- Novel was the first silent bullet/canon ball to hit Spaniards
- The Syndic of the Dominicans said they saw Rizal w secret meeting BUT it was just
him enjoying company of bodyguard, Lt. Andre TAVIEL and friends