Module On GE 9 Life, Works & Writings of Rizal

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NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Adal a dekalidad, dur-as ti panagbiag.
Module on GE 9
Life, Works & Writings of Rizal
Compiled by:
IAN NORVIN G. BUCCAT
LLOYD B. LOZANO
ABRAHAM P. TOQUERO
SHARMILA S. LAOAGAN
College of Arts & Sciences
This is for NLPSC Use Only

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OVERVIEW:
This subject deals with the life, works and writings of our National Hero, Dr. Jose P.
Rizal. Rizal was a polymath, skilled in both science and the arts. He painted, sketched and
made sculptures and woodcarving. It is important to study the life of Dr. Jose Rizal because
of his input towards the independence of Philippines. He chose to fight for his country
through knowledge and the power of letters. He noticed the continued suffering of his
countrymen at the hands of the Spaniards and sought to put an end to this situation. His
actions resonated well with that of his countrymen and eventually the people decided to rise
up and defend their rights and freedom.
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the semester, the students shall have:
1. Discussed the important events about the life and works of Dr. Jose Rizal, especially his
love and devotion to the plight of the Filipinos during the Spanish regime.
2. Demonstrated an improved character as influenced by the life and teachings of Dr. Jose
Rizal.
3. Exemplified nationalistic values as result of studying the Life of Dr. Jose Rizal especially
his wrings and works.
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DISCUSSION OF TOPICS:
Chapter 1
The Rizal Law
This is an act to include in the curricula of all public and private schools, colleges and
universities courses on the life, works and writings of Dr. Jose Rizal. This act was signed into
law on June 12, 1956 by the President Ramon Magsaysay.
Objective: At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to explain the relevance and
implications of the Rizal law to the existing curricula of tertiary education.
The Rizal Law, in any case, was emphatically restricted by the Christian church much
appreciated to the anti-clerical subjects that were pertinent in Rizal’s books Noli Me Tangere
and El Filibusterismo.
Sen. Claro M. Recto was the main proponent of the Rizal Bill. He sought to sponsor
the bill at Congress. However, this was met with stiff opposition from the Catholic church.
During the 1955 Senate election, the church charged Recto with being a communist and an
anti-Catholic. After Recto’s election, the church continued to oppose the bill mandating the
reading of Rizal’s novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, claiming it would violate
freedom of conscience and religion.
Groups such as Catholic Action of the Philippines, the Congregation of the Mission,
the Knights of Columbus, and the Catholic Teachers Guild organized the opposition to the
bill; they were countered by Veteranos de la Revolucion (Spirit of 1896), Alagad in Rizal, the
Freemasons, and the Knights of Rizal. The Senate Committee on Education sponsored a bill
co-written by both Jose P. Laurel and Recto, with the only opposition coming from Francisco
Soc Rodrigo, Mariano Jesus Cuenco, and Decoroso Rosales.
According to Cuenco, Rizal “attacked dogmas, beliefs and practices of the Church”.
Cuenco touched on Rizal’s denial of the existence of purgatory, as it it was not found in the
Bible, and that Moses and Jesus Christ did not mention its existence; Cuenco concluded that a
“majority of the Members of this Chamber, if not all our good friend, the gentleman from
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Sulu” believed in purgatory. The senator form Sulu, Domocao Alonto, attacked Filipinos
who proclaimed Rizal as “their national hero but seemed to despise what he had written”,
saying that the Indonesians used Rizal’s books as their Bible on their independence
movement; Pedro Lopez who hails from Cebu, Cuenco’s province, in his support for the bill,
reasoned out that it was in their province the independence movement started, when Lapu-
lapu fought Ferdinand Magellan.
Claro M. Recto
On May 12, 1956, a compromise inserted by Committee on Education chairman

Laurel that accommodated the objections of the Catholic church was approved unanimously.
The bill specified that only college (university) students would have the option of reading
unexpurgated versions of clerically-contested reading material, such as Noli Me Tangere and
El Filibusterismo. The bill was enacted on June 12, 1956, Flag Day.
After the bill was enacted into law, there were no recorded instances of students
applying for exemption from reading the novels, and there is no known procedure for such
exemptions. In 1994, President Fidel V. Ramos ordered the Department of Education, Culture
and Sports to fully implement the law as there had been reports that it has not been fully
implemented.
Activity:
I. Read the questions carefully. Write your answers on the spaces provided or send it through
messenger whether softcopy or photo of your written answers. Include writing the questions
as you send this through messenger.
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________________1. Who is the the author of Republic Act 1425?
________________2. Who was then the senator claimed that Rizal “attacked dogmas, beliefs
and practices of the Church”?
________________3. Who hails from Cebu, in his support for the bill, reasoned out that it
was in their province the independence movement started, when Lapu-lapu fought Ferdinand
Magellan.
________________4. Who was the President of the Philippines who signed the RA 1425?
________________5. When was the act enacted into law?
II. Short Essay. Discuss in your own opinion why we should study the life of Rizal? Write
your on a paper or encode it and send it through messenger the softcopy or photo of this
activity. (15 points)
RUBRICS 15 points 8 to 14 points 1 to 7 points no points
Narrative Events are richly Detailed and a Few are detailed No event and no
Elements and detailed with sense of closure and no sense of closure at all
sequencing temporal words closure
and sense of
closure
Grammar Periods, capital Most periods Few periods and Not enough
letters and and capital capital letters, not spacing;
spaces are all letters are where enough spacing capitalization and
where they they should be periods are
should be inconsistent
Spelling All sight words Most sight Few sight words Unintelligible
are spelled words are are spelled spelling
correctly; harder spelled correctly; harder
words are correctly, harder words are not
stretched out words are stretched out
stretched out
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Chapter 2
Rizal as a National Hero
Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the student should have:
1. Discussed the importance of Rizal as a National Hero of the Philippines.
2. Attained knowledge on how Rizal became the National Hero of the Philippines by
identifying information on it.
Jose Rizal became the national hero because he fought for freedom in a silent but
powerful way. He expressed his love for the Philippines through his novels, essays and
articles rather than through the use of force or aggression. Rizal is an American-sponsored
hero. The Americans decided for him being a national hero at their time in the country. It is
said that the Americans, Civil Governor William Howard Taft, chose Rizal to be the national
hero as a strategy. Rizal didn’t want bloody revolution in his time. So they wanted him to be
a “good example” to the Filipinos so that the people will not instigate a revolution.
By the start of the 20th century, the Philippines had become a territory of the United
States. Rizal was given special attention as a hero by the American colonial administration
because, unlike more radical figures whose ideas could inspire resistance against American
rule, he was interpreted to represent peaceful political advocacy. Rizal was selected over the
revolutionaries Andres Bonifacio, who was viewed as too radical, and Apolinario Mabini,
who was considered unregenerate. In June 11, 1901, Act No. 137 of the Taft Commission
reorganized the district of Morong into the Province of Rizal.
De Ocampo stated at www.prezi.com that according to the biographer, Rafael Palma

said, “The doctrines of Rizal are not for one epoch but for epochs. They are as valid today as
they were yesterday. This signifies the immortality of Rizal’s life, works, and genuine
character.” However, there are still some Filipinos who entertain the belief that Rizal is a
“made-to-order” national hero and that the maker or manufacturer in this case were the
Americans, particularly Civil Governor William Howard Taft.
No single person or organization can be held responsible for making Dr. Jose Rizal
our national hero. Rizal himself, his own people, and the foreigners all together contributed to
make him the greatest hero and martyr of his people.
Historical Context and Legal Basis of Rizal Day

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Two years after the execution of Rizal in Bagumbayan, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo issued
on December 20, 1898 a decree designating December 30 as the anniversary of Rizal’s death
and also as “a national day of mourning” for Rizal and other victims of the Spanish
government throughout its three centuries of oppressive rule. He made a directive that all
national flags shall be hoisted at half-mast from 12 noon on December 29 and all offices of
the government shall be closed the whole day on December 30 as a sign of mourning. On
December 30, 1898, Filipinos celebrated Rizal Day for the first time and chose Club Filipino
in Manila to be the venue.
The Americans, to win the sympathy of the Filipinos, and to convince them that they
were pro-Filipinos more than the Spaniards, gave Rizal official recognition. Rizal acquired
the official title of Philippine National Hero in 1901 under the country’s first American civil
governor, William Howard Taft. On the recommendation of Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, the
Taft Commission renamed the district of Morong into the Province of Rizal through Act 137
on June 11, 1901. Since then, Rizal came to be known as the National Hero.
On February 1, 1902, the Philippine Commission enacted Act No. 345 which set
December 30 of each year as Rizal Day, and made it one of the ten official holidays of the
Philippines. Further, Act No. 243 was enacted on September 28, 1901 granting the right to
use public land upon the Luneta in the City of Manila upon which to erect a statue of Jose
Rizal.
Rizal monuments are concrete memorials to his legacy. The most prominent is the
Rizal monument in Manila, unveiled on December 30, 1913 in line with the 17 th anniversary
of the martyrdom of Jose Rizal. However, the Rizal monument in the town Daet in
Camarines Norte holds the distinction of the first ever erected in honor of Rizal.
In the 1920s, Rizal Day was very popular and a much-awaited event with the entire
city going to Luneta to spot the parade of the Rizal Day, a parade as glamorous as the
carnival parade of February. In his memorable Rizal Day address, President Quezon declared
through Commonwealth Act No. 184 the adoption of Tagalog as the basis of the national
language of the Philippines on December 30, 1937.
The Rizal Day celebration of December 30, 1942 required the display of Japanese
flags in Filipino homes. A Niponggo program on Rizal was held in 1942, during which the
hero’s “Ultimo Adios” was recited in Japanese. This event also witnessed the inauguration of
Kalibapi. Just after the war in 1946. The country saw floral offerings and a civic parade in
observance of Rizal Day in 1946.
A crowd estimated to be from 300-500,000 persons gathered at the Luneta on

December 30, 1953 to attend the inauguration of Ramon Magsaysay as president of the
Philippines. The Constitution had made the Rizal Day event even more memorable having
specified the date of the day for the inauguration of the President of the republic as stipulated
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in Sec. 4 of Article VII of the 1935 Constitution. However, this was moved to June 30 by
virtue of the 1987 Constitution which is being observed until now.
December 30, 1996 was the centenary of the martyrdom of Rizal. Highlights included
the tracing of the last walk of Rizal from his detention cell at Fort Santiago followed by the
reenactment of the hero’s execution and flag raising at Luneta Park, Manila. A monument of
Rizal was also inaugurated on December 5, 1996 along the Avenida de las Islas Filipinos in
Madrid, Spain.
Activity:
I. Read the questions carefully. Write your answers on the spaces provided or send it through
messenger whether softcopy or photo of your written answers. Include writing the questions
as you send this through messenger.
__________________ 1. The US governor-general in the Philippines who sponsored Dr. Jose

Rizal as the national hero?
__________________ 2. The Taft Commission reorganized the district of Morong into the
Province of Rizal by virtue of what Act?
__________________ 3. The date when the Act stated in question number 2 enacted?
__________________ 4. The date when the Philippine Commission enacted Act No. 345
which set December 30 of each year as Rizal Day?
__________________ 5. The place where would we find the first ever erected monument of
Rizal?
__________________ 6. President Quezon declared the adoption of Tagalog as the basis of

the national language of the Philippines on December 30, 1937 by virtue of what Act?
__________________ 7. Who was the first President of the Philippines sworn into office
during the celebration of Rizal Day?
__________________ 8. What constitution makes the December 30 as the day of

inauguration of the President of the Philippines?
__________________ 9. When did the country saw floral offerings and civic parade during
Rizal Day?
_________________10. When was the centenary celebration of the martyrdom of Rizal?

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II. Short Essay: Do you agree that Rizal is our National Hero? If yes, explain your answer. If
you do not agree, state your reasons. Write your on a paper or encode it and send it through
messenger the softcopy or photo of this activity.
and sense of
closure
stretched out
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Chapter 3
Some Situations of the World when Rizal was Born
Objective: At the end of the lesson, the student should have
acquired knowledge on the status of the world and the Philippines during the birth of Rizal.
June 19, 1861. The date when Dr. Jose Rizal was born. It is a year or within an era
where some events occurred around the world.
United States of America in 1861
In the Unites States of America, the year 1861 was a historical year for the said
country. The United States had its 16 th President in the person of Abraham Lincoln, the first
US president from the Republican Party. Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin were elected as
president and vice president in the 1860 presidential elections and they were inaugurated in
March 4, 1861. It was also the year when the Civil War in the United States began, after
decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states’
rights and westward expansion. War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces
attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina just over a month after Lincoln had been inaugurated
as President. The loyalists of the Union in the North, which also included some
geographically western and southern states, proclaimed support for the Constitution. They
faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states’ rights to
uphold slavery.
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Abraham Lincoln
The war effectively ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee
surrendered to union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Appomattox House. The
Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished and four million enslaved black people were
freed. The war-torn nation then entered the Reconstruction era in a partially successful
attempt to rebuild the country and grant civil rights to freed slaves.
Queen Victoria of United Kingdom in 1861
In the United Kingdom (Great Britain), the ruling monarch then was Queen Victoria
who ruled the said kingdom from 1837 to 1901. Year 1861 was a very sad year of the queen
for her mother died in the month of March followed by the death of her husband in the month
of December. Queen Victoria was the longest ruling monarch of United Kingdom whom she
ruled it for less than 64 years. However, Queen Elizabeth II, the present ruling monarch,
already broke the record for at this year, 2020 she’s on her 68th year of ruling United
Kingdom.
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Queen Victoria
Philippines in 1861
In the Philippines, the country was still then a colony of Spain, largest and richest in
terms of natural resources and trade potential, and it is governed by a governor-general
serving for the ruling monarch of Spain. In 1861, Queen Isabella II was the ruling monarch of
Spain and Jose Lemery E. Ibararola Ney y Gonzales was then the governor-general of the
Philippines. The provinces today which are administered by duly elected governors were
administered by alcalde mayors. Likewise to the municipalities and cities today which are
administered by duly elected mayors were then administered by gobernadorcillos during the
Spanish regime. Further, in Laguna, birthplace of Rizal, when he was born, the capital of the
said province then was the town of Pagsanjan.
Activity:
Identification. Read the questions carefully. Write your answers on the spaces provided.
__________________ 1. Who was the President of United States of America when Rizal was
born?
__________________ 2. What was the event in US happened from April 1861 to 1865?
__________________ 3. What was the date when the 16 th President of United States was
inaugurated?
__________________ 4. Who was reigning monarch of United Kingdom when Rizal was
born?
__________________ 5. Who was the reigning monarch of Spain when Rizal was born?
__________________ 6. What was the leader of a province in the Philippines during the
Spanish era?
__________________ 7. Who was the leader of a town in the Philippines during the Spanish
era?
__________________ 8. Who was then the governor-general of the country when Rizal was
born?
__________________ 9. Who was the capital of Laguna when Rizal was born?
__________________10. What is the date of birth of Rizal?

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II. Essay. Imagine yourself lived during the time when Rizal was born. Describe what would
be your life with your family comparing it to the present time. Enumerate some positive and
negative things happened during the Spanish regime and explain. Send your answer through
softcopy or take a photo of your written answer and send it through messenger. (10 points)
and sense of
closure
stretched out
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Chapter 4
His Family and Early Life
Objective: At the end of the lesson, the student should have traced the genealogy of Jose
Rizal by presenting it through graphic organizer.
On June 19, 1861, the Mercado family from the town of Calamba in the province of
Laguna, happily greeted the birth of their newest member – a baby boy born as the seventh
child to proud parents Francisco Rizal Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora Alonso Realonda y
Quintos. They named the bouncing baby boy Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso
Realonda. The year 1861 is the Year of the Metal Rooster according to the Chinese Zodiac,
and he was born in a Wednesday.
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Francisco Rizal Mercado
Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro was Rizal’s father. He was born in
Binan, Laguna on May 11, 1818 to Juan Monica Mercado and Cirila Alejandro. He attended
the Colegio de San Jose in Manila, where he studied Latin and philosophy. He was described
by Rafael Palma: “He was 40, of solid shoulders, strong constitution, rather tall than short, of
serious and reflective mien, with prominent forehead and large dark eyes. A pure Filipino.”
Francisco married Teodora Alonso when he was 29. The couple resided in Calamba,
Laguna and built a business in agriculture. He died on January 5, 1898 at the age of 79.
Teodora Alonso Realonda
Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos was a wealthy woman in the Spanish colonial
Philippines. She was best known as the mother of Dr. Jose Rizal. She was born in Meisik,
Sta. Cruz, Manila on November 8, 1826. She was also known for being a disciplinarian and
hardworking mother. Her medical condition inspired Rizal to take up medicine.
She came from a financially able family and studied at the Colegio de Santa Rosa in
Manila and had educational background in the subjects of mathematics and literature.
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Teodora married Francisco Mercado, a native of Binan, Laguna when was 20. She was an
industrious and educated woman, managing the family’s farm and finances. Rizal honored his
mother in Memoirs of a Student in Manila writing “After God, the mother is everything to
man.” Teodora Alonso died on August 16, 1911 at the age of 84.
The Children of Francisco and Teodora
1. Saturnina Mercado Hidalgo (1850-1913)

2. Paciano Mercado (1851-1930)
3. Narcisa Mercado Lopez (1852-1939)
4. Olympia Mercado Ubaldo (1855-1887)
5. Lucia Mercado Herbosa (1857-1919)
6. Maria Mercado Cruz (1859-1945)
7. Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado (1861-1896)
8. Concepcion Mercado (1862-1865)
9. Josefa Mercado (1865-1945)
10. Trinidad Mercado (1868-1951)
11. Soledad Mercado Quintero (1870-1929)
Like many families in the Philippines, the Rizals were of mixed origin. José's
patrilineal lineage could be traced back to Fujian in China through his father's ancestor Lam-
Co, a Chinese merchant who immigrated to the Philippines in the late 17th century.
Lam-Co traveled to Manila from Xiamen, China, possibly to avoid the famine or

plague in his home district, and more probably to escape the Manchu invasion during
the Transition from Ming to Qing. He finally decided to stay in the islands as a farmer. In
1697, to escape the bitter anti-Chinese prejudice that existed in the Philippines, he converted
to Catholicism, changed his name to Domingo Mercado and married the daughter of Chinese
friend Augustin Chin-co. On his mother's side, Rizal's ancestry included Chinese, Japanese
and Tagalog blood. His mother's lineage can be traced to the affluent Florentina family of
Chinese mestizo families originating in Baliuag, Bulacan.[15] He also had Spanish ancestry.
Regina Ochoa, a grandmother of his mother, Teodora, had mixed Spanish, Chinese and
Tagalog blood. His grandfather was a half Spaniard engineer named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo.
From an early age, José showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet from
his mother at 3, and could read and write at age 5. Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de
Manila, he dropped the last three names that made up his full name, on the advice of his
brother, Paciano and the Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José Protasio Rizal".
Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid much attention [to our second surname Rizal],
but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an illegitimate child!" This was to
enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who had gained notoriety
with his earlier links to Filipino priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto
Zamora (popularly known as Gomburza) who had been accused and executed for treason.
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Despite the name change, José, as "Rizal", soon distinguished himself in poetry
writing contests, impressing his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign
languages, and later, in writing essays that were critical of the Spanish historical accounts of
the pre-colonial Philippine societies. Indeed, by 1891, the year he finished his El
filibusterismo, this second surname had become so well known that, as he writes to another
friend, "All my family now carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado because the name Rizal
means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and be worthy of this family name..."
When Rizal was young, he already tasted the injustices of the Spanish regime in the
country. Those were the following: (1) When his mother, Dona Teodora was falsely accused
of attempting to poison her sister-in-law that resulted her to walk from their house to the
capital and jailed in two years; (2) When the three priests (Gomez, Burgos and Zamora) were
executed at Bagumbayan in February 17, 1872 due to their accusation of starting the Cavite
mutiny. Father Burgos was Paciano’s mentor and a family friend of the Mercados; and (3)
Racial discrimination that he suffered from the University of Santo Tomas for the
administrators and faculty there were then friars.
Activity:
Draw a family tree or any design that shows the family line of Rizal starting from his parents,
Francisco and Teodora on a bond paper or oslo. Take a photo of your output and send it
through messenger.
Items 10-8 7-4 3-1

Creativity and The output is very much The output is creative The output is not
Visual Impact creative and presentable and presentable creative at all.
Neatness The output is very neat. The output is neat. The not very neat.
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Chapter 5: Education
Rizal first studied under Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Biñan, Laguna, before he was sent
to Manila. As to his father's request, he took the entrance examination in Colegio de San Juan
de Letran but he then enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila.
Objectives:
1. Discussed Rizal’s experiences in Ateneo
2. Enumerated the scholastic achievements of Rizal and relate it to actual situations.
Rizal in Ateneo
At first, he was not accepted by Fr. Magin Ferrando, the school registrar due to
undersized and late registration. But with the help of Fr. Manuel Xeres Burgos, one of the
professors then in Ateneo and nephew of the late Fr. Jose Burgos, Rizal was admitted in the
said institution.
He had a very remarkable record of schooling from first year until his graduation. He
graduated as one of the nine students in his class declared sobresaliente or outstanding. He
continued his education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila to obtain a land surveyor and
assessor's degree. In his stint at Ateneo, he wrote “To the Filipino Youth”. In this poem, he
enlightened the readers about the truth – which Filipinos must be standing and being proud of
what they are, and not just be slaves of somebody else. He also mentioned the farmers quotes
that the youth is the hope of our nation. Lastly, he ended with a thanksgiving to God, and
praise to our country’s youth by saying that wherever he may be going, he would always be
proud of the Filipino youth.
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Young Jose Rizal

Rizal in UST
Having completed his Bachelor of Arts at the Ateneo Municipal, was now eligible for
higher education at a university. His mother, Doña Teodora, had second thoughts about
sending her son to school because of the previous incident involving the execution of priests
Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora. However, it was Don Francisco who decided his son should to
the University pf Santo Tomas, a prestigious institution ran by the Dominican order then, He
finished the course of Philosophy as a pre-law. Upon learning that his mother was going
blind, he decided to switch to medicine at the medical school of Santo Tomas specializing
later in ophthalmology. Despite of the discrimination that he suffered from the Spanish friars
in the said institution, he received his four-year practical training in medicine at Ospital de
San Juan de Dios in Intramuros. In his last year at medical school, he received a mark
of sobresaliente in courses of Patologia Medica (Medical Pathology), Patología
Quirúrgica (Surgical Pathology) and Obstretics.
The following are the scholastic records of Rizal in UST:
Philosophy & Letters (1877 – 78)
 Cosmology……………………………Excellent
 Theodicy………………………………Excellent
 History of Philosophy…………………Excellent
Medicine – 1st Year (1878 – 79)
 Physics………………………………..Fair
 Chemistry…………………………….Excellent
 Natural History……………………….Fair
 Anatomy 1……………………………Good
 Dissection 1…………………………..Good
Medicine – 2nd Year (1879 – 80)
 Anatomy 2……………………………Good
 Dissection 2…………………………..Good
 Physiology……………………………Good
 Private Hygiene………………………Good
 Public Hygiene……………………….Good
Medicine – 3rd Year (1880 – 81)
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 General Pathology……………………Fair
 Therapeutics………………………….Excellent
 Surgery……………………………….Good
Medicine – 4th Year (1881 – 82)
 Medical Pathology……………………Very Good
 Surgical Pathology……………………Very Good
 Obstetrics……………………………..Very Good
Rizal, known for being an intelligent student, had some difficulty in some subjects in
medical school such as Física (Physics) and Patología General (General Pathology). One of
the causes is due to the evident discrimination of the Profesor to Filipino students.
Without his parents' knowledge and consent, but secretly supported by his
brother Paciano, he traveled alone to Madrid, Spain in May 1882 and studied medicine at
the Universidad Central de Madrid where he earned the degree, Licentiate in Medicine. He
also attended medical lectures at the University of Paris and the University of Heidelberg.
In Berlin, he was inducted as a member of the Berlin Ethnological Society and the Berlin
Anthropological Society under the patronage of the famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow.
Following custom, he delivered an address in German in April 1887 before the
Anthropological Society on the orthography and structure of the Tagalog language. He
left Heidelberg a poem, "A las flores del Heidelberg", which was both an evocation and a
prayer for the welfare of his native land and the unification of common values between East
and West.
At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal, completed in 1887 his eye specialization under
the renowned professor, Otto Becker. There he used the newly
invented ophthalmoscope (invented by Hermann von Helmholtz) to later operate on his own
mother's eye. From Heidelberg, Rizal wrote his parents: "I spend half of the day in the study
of German and the other half, in the diseases of the eye. Twice a week, I go to the
bierbrauerie, or beerhall, to speak German with my student friends." He lived in a Karlstraße
boarding house then moved to Ludwigsplatz. There, he met Reverend Karl Ullmer and stayed
with them in Wilhelmsfeld, where he wrote the last few chapters of Noli Me Tángere.
Rizal was a polymath, skilled in both science and the arts. He painted, sketched, and
made sculptures and woodcarving. He was a prolific poet, essayist, and novelist whose most
famous works were his two novels, Noli Me Tángere and its sequel, El filibusterismo. These
social commentaries during the Spanish colonization of the country formed the nucleus of
literature that inspired peaceful reformists and armed revolutionaries alike. Rizal was also
a polyglot, conversant in twenty-two languages.
Rizal's multifacetedness was described by his German friend, Dr. Adolf Bernhard
Meyer, as "stupendous." Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the ability to
master various skills and subjects. He was an ophthalmologist, sculptor, painter, educator,
farmer, historian, playwright and journalist. Besides poetry and creative writing, he dabbled,
with varying degrees of expertise, in architecture, cartography,
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economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics, martial arts, fencing and pistol

shooting. He was also a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge No. 9 during his time in Spain and
becoming a Master Mason in 1884.
Activity:
I. True or False. Write true if the statement is correct and false if the statement is not
true. Write your answers on the spaces provided.
_______ 1. In Binan, Rizal’s teacher was Fr. Jose Burgos.
_______ 2. Fr. Magin Ferrnado was the school registrar who did not admit Rizal’s enrolment
at first in Ateneo.
_______ 3. Fr. Manuel Xeres Burgos, brother of Fr. Jose Burgos helped Rizal in his
enrolment at Ateneo.
_______ 4. Rizal graduated with an award of sobresaliente at Ateneo.
_______ 5. Rizal was prompted to study ophthalmology at the University of Santo Tomas
after his mother lost her sight.
_______ 6. The University of Santo Tomas then was administered with Jesuits.
_______ 7. Despite of the discrimination that he suffered in the said institution, he received
his four-year practical training in medicine at Ospital de San Juan de Dios in Mandaluyong.
_______ 8. In his last year at medical school, he received a mark of sobresaliente in courses
of Patologia Medica (Medical Pathology), Patología Quirúrgica (Surgical Pathology) and
Obstretics.
_______ 9. At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal, completed in 1887 his eye specialization
under the renowned professor, Louis de Wecker.
_______10. Rizal was a polymath, skilled in both science and the arts. He painted, sketched,
and made sculptures and woodcarving.
II. Essay: Compare the educational system of the Philippines during Rizal’s time and
the educational system today. Explain your answer and send it through softcopy or
take a photo of your answer and send it through messenger. (10 points)
RUBRICS 9 to 10 points 6 to 8 points 3 to 4 points 0 t0 2 points
and sense of
closure
22

stretched out
Chapter 6: The Travels of Rizal

Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the student should have:
1. Identified the different places Rizal have traveled.

2. Discussed the travel experiences of Rizal.
Disillusioned with low Filipinos in the Philippines were regarded as second-class

citizens in institutions of learning and elsewhere, the National Hero Jose Rizal left the
country in May 5, 1882 to pursue further studies abroad. He enrolled in a course in medicine
at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain. In June 1883, he travelled to France to
observe how medicine was being practiced there.
After his three-month sojourn in France, Rizal returned to Madrid and thought about
publishing a book that exposed the colonial relationship of Spain and the Philippines. This
idea was realized in March 1887, with the publication of the novel Noli Me tangere in
Germany.
Rizal was actively involved in the Propaganda Movement, composed of Filipinos in

Spain who sought to direct the attention of Spaniards to the concerns of the Spanish colony in
the Philippines. He wrote articles for publications in Manila and abroad; convened with
overseas Filipinos to discuss their duty to the country; and called on Spanish authorities to
institute reforms in the Philippines, such as granting freedom of the press and Filipino
representation in the Spanish Cortes.
23

Rizal in Germany
Jose Rizal traveled to Heidelberg in Germany and stayed there and worked as medical
assistance to Dr. Otto Becker at the University of Heidelberg for 6 months. Then he stayed at
Wilhelmfeld in the house of Rev. Karl Ullmer and there; he finished his novel, Noli Me
Tangere (1886) and had it published at Berlin.
In Berlin, he had a frugal life in finishing the publication of his novel. Further, in
Berlin, he met the author of his favorite novel, “Travels in the Philippines” Dr. Feodor Jagor,
a German philosopher and traveler.
On February 21, 1887, he finished the manuscript of the Noli Me Tangere. After
finishing the publication, on May 11, 1887, Rizal left Berlin and embarked on a grand tour
with his friend Maximo Viola to various European cities. During also his stint in Berlin, he
gained further knowledge of ophthalmology, to further his studies of sciences and languages,
to get familiar with the scenic of Germany and to be part of the scientific community.
Rizal was enchanted by the cosmopolitan city in northeastern Germany because “of
its scientific atmosphere and absence of prejudice.” From Berlin, Rizal and Viola traveled to
Dresden. They visited Dr. Adolph Meyer, who was overjoyed to see him. In the Museum of
Art, Rizal was deeply impressed by painting of “Prometheus Bound.”
24

Maximo Viola Ferdinand Blumentritt
First Meeting with Blumentritt
At 1:30 pm of May 15, 1887, the train arrived at the railroad station of Leitmeritz.
Professor Blumentritt was at the Station carrying a pencil sketch of Rizal which he sent to
identify his friend. Blumentritt get a room at Hotel Krebs, after which he bought them to his
house and stayed Leirmeritz May 13 to 16, 1887.
He enjoyed the hospitality of the Blumentritts. Rizal and Viola’s tourist guide was the
professor. One afternoon, they were invited to a beer garden. They met the burgomaster of
that town and they were proudly introduced by Blumentritt. Another one afternoon, Rizal and
Viola were invited to a meeting of the tourist’s club of Leitmeritz. Praising Austria’s idyllic
seems and its hospitable, nature, loving, and noble people. Rizal met Dr. Carlos Czepelack,
the renowned scientist of Europe and he was introduced to Prof. Robert Klutschack, an
eminent naturalist.
From Leitmeritz, they also went to see the tomb of Copernicus, went to Vienna, Lintz,
Rheinfall, Salzburg, Munich and also to Rome.
Activity:
I. True or False. Write true if the statement is correct and false if the statement is not
true. Write your answers on the spaces provided. (10 points)
_______ 1. Jose Rizal left the country in May 5, 1882 to pursue further studies abroad.
_______ 2. After his three-month sojourn in France, Rizal returned to Madrid and thought
about publishing a book that exposed the colonial relationship of Spain and the Philippines.
_______ 3. Rizal was actively involved in the Propaganda Movement, composed of Filipinos
in France who sought to direct the attention of Spaniards to the concerns of the Spanish
colony in the Philippines.
_______ 4. Jose Rizal traveled to Heidelberg in Germany and stayed there and worked as
medical assistance to Dr. Otto Becker at the Heidelberg State University for 5 months.
_______ 5. In Berlin, he met the author of his favorite novel, “Travels in the Philippines” Dr.
Feodor Jagor, a German philosopher and traveler.
25

_______ 6. During also his stint in Berlin, he gained further knowledge of ophthalmology, to
further his studies of sciences and languages, to get familiar with the scenic of France and to
be part of the scientific community.
_______ 7. From Heidelberg, Rizal and Viola traveled to Dresden. They visited Dr. Adolph
Meyer, who was overjoyed to see him.
_______ 8. In the Museum of Art, Rizal was deeply impressed by painting of “Prometheus
Bound.”
_______ 9. He enjoyed the hospitality of the Blumentritts. Rizal and Viola’s tourist guide
was the professor.
_______10. Rizal met Dr. Carlos Czepelack, the great astronomer of Europe and he was
introduced to Prof. Robert Klutschack, an eminent philosopher.
II. Essay: Rizal enjoyed for sure touring around Europe. In your own opinion, what
famous landmark in Europe do you wish to visit? Explain your answer and send it
through softcopy or take a photo of your answer and send it through messenger.
(10 points)
and sense of
closure
stretched out
26

Chapter 7: Rizal’s Homecoming

Objective: At the end of the lesson, the student should have:
1. Explained the reason of Rizal’s homecoming.
2. Gathered information about his activities during his homecoming.
On June 29, 1887, Rizal wrote to his father, announcing his homecoming. Rizal left
Rome by train for Marseilles, a French port, which he reached without mishap. On July 3,
1887, Rizal boarded the steamer Djemnah, the same steamer which brought him to Europe 5
years ago. On July 30, 1998, the Haiphong arrived in Manila.
Rizal returned to the Philippines for the following reasons:
1. Epidemic spreads throughout the country.

2. To cure his mother’s eyes.
3. His father was deprived of properties.
4. He received a news about his fiancé, Leonor Rivera.
On August 8, 1887, Rizal returned to Calamba. There, he established a medical clinic.

His first patient was his mother, who was almost blind. Rizal, who came to be called “Doctor
Uliman” because he came from Germany, treated their aliments and soon he acquired a
lucrative practice. Rizal opened a gymnasium for young folks, where he introduced European
sports and to further avoid cockfighting. In his medical practice in his clinic, he earned 900
pesos during his stint.
He stayed in the Philippines for only 6 months because of threats he received from the
Spaniards and Governor-General Emilio Terrero advised him to leave the country for a while.
In his 6-month stint, he suffered one failure – to see Leonor Rivera. His relatives said that
Leonor Rivera went to Dagupan with his mother and stayed there for a while. Rizal left the
country on February 1888.
Activity:
27

Short Essay (20 points). Do you think it is a right thing for Rizal to leave the country?
Explain your answer and send it through softcopy or take a photo of your answer and send it
through messenger.
RUBRICS 18 to 20 points 10 to 17 points 5 to 9 points 0 t0 4 points
and sense of
closure
stretched out
Chapter 8
Rizal’s Second Tour to Europe
Objective:
At the end of the lesson, the student should have identified the events that
happened in Rizal’s second travel to Europe.
In his second time of going to other places in the world, he went to Europe again for a
while then went to Hong Kong to practice his being a doctor of the eyes and to study
Chinese. He also went to japan and had a Japanese romance with a girl named Seiko Usui. He
also studied Japanese when he was staying there, particularly Katakana with the help of his
Japanese girlfriend, Seiko Usui. His name was translated also in Japanese (Ho Se Ri Za Ru).
28

He started his second novel, El Filibusterismo in Paris and continued it in Brussels.

He wanted to go back to the Philippines but his family and friends did not approve of it. In
May 1888, Rizal went to England. In August, he was admitted to the British Museum, where
he copied Antonio de Morga’s massive study of the Philippines, Sucesor de las Islas
Filipinas, which rizal later annotated for publication “as a gift to the Filipinos.” In the
museum he devoted his time reading all the sources on Philippine history that he could find.
He kept up his correspondence with various people, including his family, who were being
oppressed by the Spanish religious landowners; the Filipino patriots in Spain; and his
Austrian friend, Ferdinand Blumentritt, with whom he planned to form an association of
Philippine scholars. From 1888 to 1890 he shuttled between London and Paris, where he
wrote ethnographic and history-related studies, as well as political articles. He also frequently
visited Spain, where he met with fellow Fiipino intellectuals like Marcelo H. del Pilar,
Mariano Ponce, and Graciano Lopez Jaena.
In March 1891, Rizal finished writing his second novel, El Filibusterismo in France.
He planned to publich the book in Belgium, but was financially hand up. His brother’s
support from back home was delayed in coming, and he was scrimping on meals and
expenses. Finally, in September 1891, El Filibusterismo was published in Ghent using
donations from Rizal’s friends.
Meanwhile, a rivalry had ensued between Rizal and del Pilar over the leadership of
the Association Hispano Filipino in Spain. Rizal decided to leave Europe to avoid the
worsening rift between the Rizalistas and Pilaristas, and to help maintain unity among
Filipino expatriates. After staying for some time in Hong Kong, where he practiced medicine
29

and planned to build a “New Calamba” by relocating landless Filipinos to Borneo, Rizal
came home to the Philippines in June 1892.
Activity: Short Essay (20 points). What can you say about Rizal’s decision to leave the
Propaganda Movement and return back to the Philippines? Explain your answer and send it
through softcopy or take a photo of your answer and send it through messenger.
and sense of
closure
stretched out
Chapter 9: Rizal’s Life in Exile
Objectives:
1. Presented the different contributions of Rizal during his stay in Dapitan.
2. Narrated the four-year exile of Dr. Jose Rizal in Dapitan.
La Liga Filipina
Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892. He founded a non-violent reform society,

the La Liga Filipina, in Manila at the residence of Don Doroteo Ongjunco. It was attended by
people including Andres Bonifacio and his men. The organization derived from La
Solidaridad and the Propaganda Movement. The purpose of La Liga Fiipina was to build a
new group that sought to involve the people directly in the reform movement.
30

The league was to be sort of mutual aid and self-help society dispensing scholarship
funds and legal aid, loaning capital and setting up cooperatives, the league because a threat to
Spanish authorities that they arrested Rizal on July 6, 1892 on Dapitan.
During the exile of Rizal, the organization because inactive, though through the
efforts of Domingo Franco and Andres Bonifacio, it was reorganized. The organization
decided to declare its support for La Solidaridad and the reforms it advocated, raise funds for
the paper, and defray the expenses of deputies advocating reforms for the country before the
Spanish Cortes. Eventually after some disarray in the leadership of the group, the Supreme
Council of the League dissolved the society.
The Liga membership split into two groups when it is about to be revealed: the
conservatives formed the Cuerpo de Compromisarios which pledged to continue supporting
the La Solidaridad while the radicals led by Bonifacio devoted themselves to a new and
secret society, the Katipunan.
Aims of La Liga Filipina:
 To unite the whole archipelago into one vigorous and homogenous organization
 Neutral protection in every want and necessity
 Defense against all violence and injustice
 Encouragement of instruction, agriculture, and commerce
 Study the application of reforms
Life in Dapitan
Four days after the civic organization’s foundation, Jose Rizal was arrested by the
Spanish authorities in four grounds:
 For publishing anti-catholic and anti-friar books and articles

 For having in possession a bundle of handbills, the Pobres Frailes, in which
advocacies were in violation of the Spanish orders
 For dedicating his novel, El Filibusterismo to the three “traitors” (Gomez, Burgos and
Zamora) and for emphasizing on the novel’s title page that “the only salvation for the
Philippines was separation from the mother country (referring to Spain)
 For simply criticizing the religion and aiming for its inclusion from the Filipino
culture.
Aboard the steamer Cebu and under heavy guard, Rizal left Manila, sailing to
Mindoro and Panay, until he reached Dapitan at 7:00 in the evening of July 17. From that day
until July 31, 1896, Dapitan became the bare witness to one of the most fruitful periods in
31

Rizal’s life. His stay in the province was more than “he” living in exile – it was the period
when Rizal had been more focused on serving the people and the society through his civic
works, medical practices, land development and promotion of education.
Careers and Contributions in Dapitan:
Rizal had maximized his stay in Dapitan by devoting much of his time in improving
his artistic and literacy skills; doing agricultural and civic projects to his friends in Europe,
particularly to Ferdinand Blumentritt and Reinhold Rost. His carriers and achievements in
different fields were as follows:
1. As a physician, Rizal provided free medicine to his patients, most of them were
underprivileged. However, he also had wealthy patients who paid him enough for his
excellent surgical skill. His skill was put into test in August 1893 when his mother
was placed under ophthalmic surgery for the third time. The operation was a success,
however, Doña Teodora ignored her son’s instructions and removed the bandages in
her eyes which led to irritation and infection.
2. As an engineer, Rizal applied his knowledge through the waterworks system he

constructed in Dapitan. As a result, despite the inadequacy of tools at hand, he
successfully provided a good water system in the province.
3. As an educator, Rizal established a school in Dapitan which was attended by 23

young boys from prominent families, including some of his nephews. He taught them
reading, writing in english and spanish, geography, history, mathematics, industrial
work, nature study, morals and gymnastics. He encouraged his students to engage in
sports activities to strengthen their bodies as well. Classes were conducted from 2:00
to 4:00 pm with the teacher sitting on a hammock while the students sat on a long
bamboo bench.
4. As an agriculturist, Rizal devoted time in planting important crops and fruit-bearing

trees in his 16-hectare land (later, reaching as 70 hectares). He planted cacao, coffee,
sugarcane and coconuts, among many others. He even invested part of his earnings
from being a medical practitioner and his 6,200-peso winnings from lottery on lands.
From the United States, he imported agricultural machinery and introduced to the
native farmers of Dapitan the modern agricultural methods.
5. As a businessman, the adventurous Rizal, with his partner, ramon Carreon, tried his
luck in the fishing, hemp and copra industries. In a ltter to his brother-in-law, Manuel
Timoteo Hidalgo, he pointed out the potential of the fishing industry in the province
(as the area was abundant with fish and good beach). He also requested that two good
Calamba fishermen be sent to Dapitan to teach the fisherfolks of the new fishing
32

methods, using a big net called pukutan. But the industry in which Rizal because more
successful was in hemp, shipping the said product to a foreign firm in Manila.
6. As an inventor, little was known of Rizal. In 1887, during medical practice in

Calamba, he invented a special type of lighter called sulpukan which he sent to
Blumentritt as a gift. According to Rizal, the wooden lighter’s mechanism was based
on the principle of compressed air. Another of his inventions was the wooden brick-
maker can manufacture about 6,000 bricks a day.
7. As an artist, he had contributed his talent in the Sisters of Charity who wee preparing
for the arrival of the image of the Holy Virgin. Rizal was actually the person who
modelled the image’s reight foot and other details. He also conceptualized its curtain,
which was oil-painted by a Sister under his instruction. He also made sketches of
anything which attracted him in Dapitan. Among his collections were the three rare
fauna species that he discovered (dragon/lizard, frog and beetle) and the fishes he
caught. He also sculptured the statuette called “The Mother’s Revenge” which
represented his dog, Syria, avenging her puppy to a crocodile which killed it.
8. As a linguist, Rizal was interested in the languages used in Dapitan, thus studied and
made comparisons of the Bisayan and Malayan languages existing in the region. In
fact, Rizal had knowledge in 22 languages; Tagalog, Iloco, Bisayan, Subanum,
Spanish, Latin, Greek, English, French, German, Arabic, Malayan, Hebrew, Sanskrit,
Dutch, Catalan, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish, and Russian.
9. As a scientist, Rizal shored his interest with nature to his students. He made a bulk of
other researches and studies in the fields of ethnography, archaeology, geology,
anthropology, and geography. However, Rizal’s most significant contribution in the
scientific world was his discovery of three species:
 Draco rizali………………..flying dragon
 Apogonia rizali……………small beetle
 Rhacophorus rizali………...rare frog
Rizal also partakes in civic works in Dapitan. Upon arriving in the province, he
noticed its poor condition. He drained the marshes of Dapitan to get rid of malaria-carrying
mosquitoes. He also provided lighting system – coconut oil lamps posted in dark streets – in
the province out of what he earned from being a physician. He beautified Dapitan by
remodeling the town plaza, with the aid of his Jesuit teacher, Fr. Francisco Sanchez, and
created a relief map of Mindanao (footnote: using stones, soil and grass) right in front the
church.
Romantic affair with Josephine Bracken

33

Rizal had always been missing his family and their happy moments together in
Calamba and his despair doubled upon the announcement of Leonor Rivera’s death. Not
soon, to his surprise, an irish girl enlightened his rather gloomy heart. This girl was the 18-
year old Jospehine Bracken who, to Wenceslao Retana’s words, was “slender”, a chestnut
blond, with blue eyes, dressed with elegant simplicity, with an atmosphere of light (gaiety).
From Hong Kong, she arrived in Dapitan in February 1895 with his blind foster
father, George Taufer, and a Filipina named Manuela Orlac. Rizal’s fame as an ophthalmic
surgeon reached overseas, and one of Rizal’s friends, Julio Llorente referred the group of
Rizal. Rizal and Bracken instantly fell in love with each and in just one month, they agreed to
marry which appalled and disturbed Taufer. However, the parish priest of Dapitan, father
Pedro Obach, refused to do so unless they be permitted by the Bishop of Cebu.
On the other hand, Taufer returned to Hong Kong uncured. Because no priest was
willing to marry the two, the couple exchanged vows before God in their own way, which
scandalized Fr. Obach. In 1896, their love bear its fruit – Josephine was pregnant.
Unfortunately, Bracken gave birth to a one-month premature baby boy who lived only for
three hours. The child was buried in Dapitan, bearing the name Francisco, after Rizal’s father.
Katipunan Seek Rizal’s Advice
Prior to the outbreak of the revolution, the Katipunan leader, Andres Bonifacio, seek
the advice of Rizal. In a secret meeting on May 2, 1896 at the Bitukang Manok river in Pasig,
the group agreed to send Dr. Pio Valenzuela as a representative to Dapitan who will inform
Rizal of their plan to launch a revolution against the Spaniards. On board the steamer Venus,
Valenzuela left Manila on June 15, 1892 and in 6 days, arrived at dapitan with a blind
companion, Raymundo Mata. At night, Rizal and Valenzuela told him of the Katipunan’s
plan. Reagrding this, Rizal outspokenly objected Bonifacio’s “premature” idea for two
reasons:
 The Filipinos were still unready for such bloody revolution

 The Katipunan lacked machinery – before plotting a revolution, there must be
sufficient arms and funds collected.
Valenzuela also told Rizal of their plan to rescue him in Dapitan. Again, the exiled
hero disagreed because he had no plan of breaking his word of honor to the Spanish
authorities.
As a Volunteer in Cuba
During the peak of the Cuban revolution, Rizal offered his services as a military
doctor to compromise with the shortage of physicians in the said country. It was his friend
Ferdinand Blumentritt who informed him of the situation in Cuba and suggested that he
volunteer himself as army doctor. On December 17, 1895, Rizal sent a letter to Governor
34

General Ramon Blanco rendering his service for Cuba. But for months Rizal awaited in vain
for the governor’s reply, and loss hope that his request will be granted. It was only on July
30, 1896 when Rizal received a letter from Governor Blanco, dated July 2, 1896, accepting
his offer. The letter also stated that Rizal will be given a pass so that he can go to Manila,
then to Spain where its Minister of war will assign shim to the Army of Operations in Cuba.
Farewell in Dapitan
At midnight of July 31, 1896, Rizal left Dapitan on board the steamer España,
together with Narcisa, Josephine, Angelica (Narcisa’s daughter), three nephews and six of his
students. Many were saddened as the adopted son of Dapitan left.
In Cebu, on their way to Manila, Rizal successfully performed an ophthalmic

operation to a merchant who paid him fifty silver pesos. After almost a week, on August 6,
1896, España arrived in Manila. Rizal was supposedly to board the Isla de Luzon for Spain,
but unfortunately, left ahead of time. Instead, he was transferred to the Spanish cruiser
Castilla to stay and wait for the next mail boat that would sail for Spain next month. He was
prohibited from leaving the vicinity but was allowed to accept visitors so long as they were
his immediate family. Of course, all these delays were part of the drama – Rizal has now
fallen to the critical/deadly Spanish trap.
Activity: Short Essay (20 points). Among the careers and contributions which Rizal gave to
Dapitan, which of these amazed you? Explain your answer and send it through softcopy or
take a photo of your answer and send it through messenger.
and sense of
closure
stretched out
35

Chapter 10
Trial and Execution
Objective: At the end of the lesson, the student should have discussed the
relevance of Rizal’s martyrdom to present day situation.
Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba via Spain and was imprisoned in Barcelona on
October 6, 1896. He was sent back the same day to Manila to stand trial and he was
implicated in the revolution through his association with members of the Katipunan.
While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he was given a defense lawyer in the person of Lt.
Luis Taviel de Andrade who later on became his friend. Rizal issued a manifesto disavowing
the current revolution in its present state and declaring that the education of Filipinos and
their achievement of a national identity were prerequisites to freedom.
Rizal was tried before a count-martial for rebellion, sedition and conspiracy, and was
convicted an all three charges and sentenced to death. Blanco, who was sympathetic to Rizal,
had been forced out of office. The friars, led by then Archbishop of Manila Bernardino
Nozaleda had intercalated Camilo de Polavieja in his stead as the new Spanish Governor
General after pressuring Queen-Regent Maria Cristina of Spain, thus sealing Rizal’s fate.
36

Ramon Blanco Camilo de Polavieja
Msgr. Bernardino Nozaleda
Moments before his execution on December 30, 1896 by a squad of Filipino soldiers
of the Spanish Army, a back up force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready to shoot
the executioners should they fail to obey orders. The Spanish Army Surgeon, Dr. Felipe Ruiz
Castillo requested to take his pulse: it was normal. Aware of this the sergeant commanding
the back up force hushed his men to silence when they began raising “vivas” with the highly
partisan crowd of Peninsular and Mestizo Spaniards. Prior to that, Rizal also conveyed his
last request to the sergeant to face the firing squad but he didn’t granted Rizal’s request then
Rizal requested again to spare his head as the squad will shoot him. His last words were those
of Jesus Christ: “consumatum est” – it is finished. Rizal died at 7:03 am of December 30,
1896.
37

He was secretly buried in Paco Cemetery in Manila with no identification on his

grave. His sister Narcisa toured all possible gravesites and found freshly turned earth at the
cemetery with guards posted at the gate. Assuming this could be the most likely spot, there
never having been any ground burials, she made a gift to the caretaker to mark the site “RPJ”,
Rizal’s initials in reverse.
His undated poem Mi Ultimo Adios, believed to have been written a few days before
his execution, was hidden in an alcohol stove, which was later handed to his family with his
few remaining possessions, including the final letters and his last bequests. During their visit,
Rizal reminded his sisters in English, “There is something inside it”, referring to the alcohol
stove given by the Pardo de Taveras which was to be returned after his execution, thereby
emphasizing the importance of the poem. This instruction was followed by another item was
secreted. Exhumation of his remains in August 1898, under American rule, revealed that had
been uncoffined, his burial was not on sanctified group granted to the confessed faithful, and
whatever was in his shoes had disintegrated. He is now buried in the Rizal Monument in
Manila.
Rizal is believed to be the first Filipino revolutionary whose death is attributed

entirely to his work as a writer; and through dissent and civil disobedience enabled him to
successfully destroy Spain’s moral primacy to rule.
He also bequeathed a book personally bound by him in Dapitan to his best and dearest
friend, Ferdinand Blumentritt. When Blumentritt received it in his hometown of Litomerice
(Leitmeritz), he broke down and wept.
38

Activity:
I. Identification. Read the questions carefully. Write your answers on the spaces
provided.
__________________ 1. It was the place where Rizal was imprisoned.
__________________ 2. He was Rizal’s defense panel.
__________________ 3. The three charges which accused Rizal at court.
__________________ 4. He was the the governor general who was sympathetic to Rizal.
__________________ 5. He was the Archbishop of Manila who persecuted Filipinos

including Jose Rizal.
__________________ 6. He was the Spanish Army surgeon who took the pulse of Rizal
before the execution is done.
__________________ 7. It is the date and time of Rizal’s death.
__________________ 8. It is the undated poem of Rizal, believed to have been written a few
days before his execution, was hidden in an alcohol stove.
__________________ 9. The instruction of Rizal which he uttered to his sisters when he

gave the alcohol stove.
__________________10. When was Rizal’s remains were exhumed during the American
regime?
II. Essay. They say that our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal was buried at Paco
Cemetery. If you are the President of the Philippines, would you plan to bury
Rizal at the Libingan ng mga Bayani? Or would you will let him rest in his grave
in the place where he is laid today? Explain your answer and send it through
messenger. (10 points)
and sense of
closure
39

stretched out
Chapter 11: The Women in Rizal’s Life
Objective: At the end of the lesson, the student should have identified the
different women and their role in Rizal’s life.
Abellon (2018) stated that it can only be with true passion that one can conquer and
accomplish what Filipino hero Jose Rizal had in his thirty-five year life. He stopped at
nothing when it came to expressing his love not just for his country but also his women. His
travels across the Philippines and the world swayed him into multifarious relationships that
colored almost half his life. There are nine women on record. It is not to say that all those
relationships were serious, but he did pursue when he wanted to pursue, cared, at least, and
displayed his attentiveness and charm unapologetically.
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Segunda Katigbak Leonor Valenzuela
Segunda Katigbak
Abellon further stated that tirst love never dies they say – unless your first love is
already engaged to be married when you meet. Thus you have to let it go really fast. Such
was the case of Jose Rizal and Segunda Katigbak, Batangueña, whom Rizal met when he was
only 14 years old (Duka and Pila 2010).
They met when the young hero visited his grandmother with his friend, Mariano
Katigbak, Segunda’s brother. The Katigbaks were close to Rizal’s grandmother, and
coincidentally, Segunda was at the grandma’s house when Rizal and Mariano arrived. It was
attraction at first sight. Segunda was also a close friend to Rizal’s sister, Olympia, whom he
visited every week at the La Concordia College. The two became very close. However,
Segunda was already engaged to be married to a man who lived in her town, and Rizal had to
stop pursuing her.
Leonor Valenzuela
Leonor “Orang” Valenzuela is a tall girl from Pagsanjan. Rizal’s second object of
affection, is literally the girl-next-door. They met when Rizal was a sophomore medical
student at University of Santo Tomas, during which time he also lived at Doña Concha
Leyva’s boarding house in Intramuros, Manila. Orang who was then 14 years old, was his
neighbor.
During the courtship, Rizal was said to have sent Leonor private and secret love
letters, which he wrote using invisible ink made with water and salt – he was adept in
chemistry, too. To read the letters, Orang had to heat the letter over a candle or a lamp. Rizal
also frequented the Valenzuela’s home, which was a hang out place of the students in the
area.
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Leonor Rivera
Leonor Rivera and Jose Rizal lived the tragedies of Shakespeare’s poems. They met
when Rizal was 18 and Leonor was 13, at the boarding house of Rizal’s uncle in Intramuros,
Manila. Leonor was Rizal’s second cousin.
It was a perfect love story in the beginning: he, the intelligent charmer, and she, the
beautiful student who had a beautiful singing voice and was a talented piano player. Soon,
they fell in love. But as tragic love stories go, they were besieged by obstacles. Leonor’s
parents highly disapproved of their relationship as they were wary of Rial being a
“filibuster”. In his letters, Rizal called Leonor “Taimis” to hide her identity.
Before leaving for Europe in 1882, Rizal said that he had found the woman he wanted
to marry. But even his brother, Paciano, disagreed with the idea, saying that it would be
unfair to Leonor if he were to have her behind after getting married.
But their love – as young loves are – wanted to go against all that stood in the way.
Although they did not get married, they tried to continue sending each other love letters, a lot
of which were intercepted and kept hidden by Leonor’s mother. In 1890, Leonor wrote a
letter to Rizal saying that she was engaged to be married to a British engineer named Henry
Kipping. That same year, the wedding pushed through.
Upon the coercion of her mother, Leonor burned Rizal’s letters to her – but it was said
she kept the ashes of those letters. A story goes that she hid some of these ashes in the hem of
her wedding gown.
But their dark romance didn’t end there. In 1893, Leonor died during second
childbirth. Documents show that when Rizal heard of the news through her sister, Narcissa,
he didn’t speak for a new days. It is believed that Rizal immortalized Leonor through the
character Maria Clara in Noli Me Tangere.
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Consuelo Ortiga Seiko Usui
Consuelo Ortiga
Consuelo Ortiga y Rey was the daughter of Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, who was Mayor
of Manila when Maria dela Torre was the governor. While Rizal was in Madrid, he would
hang out at Don Pablo’s house, which became a place where Filipino students would often
get together. Through one of these gatherings, Rizal met Consuelo.
He showed affection towards Consuelo but was not serious in his pursuit as he was
still engaged to Leonor Rivera at the time. Yes, he loved the company of women, but during
that brief period, he too was lonely and yearning for the physical void left by Leonor. In the
end, Consuelo get engaged to Rizal’s friend, Eduardo de Lete. It is said that Eduardo’s love
for Consuelo was also the reason Rizal dint pursue the mestiza.
Seiko Usui
In many of his diary entries, Rizal wrote about how he was charmed by Japan’s
beauty, cleanliness, and peace and order. But if there was one thing that almost kept him in
the country where cherry blossoms bloom most beautiful, it was a woman named Seiko Usui,
affectionately called “O-Sei-San”.
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It was on 1888. Rizal had just arrived in Japan from Hong Kong upon an invitation to
take a job offer at the Spanish Legation. One day, while he was in the office grounds, he saw
O-Sei-San walk past the legation’s gate and was immediately enthralled by her beauty. With
the help of a Japanese gardener, he asked to be introduced to the woman who captured his
eyes – and the gardener acquiesced. Rizal spoked little Japanese at the time, so the gardener
had to serve as a translator. However, a few minutes into the conversation, they both found
O-Sei-San spoke English and French, which was a relief as Rizal spoke both languages.
When the language barrier broke, they started to build a relationship.
As days went by, O-Sei-San taught Rizal the ways of the Japanese. They went
gallivanting, visiting museums, galleries, and universities. They talked about the arts and
culture, switching their language from French to English and back as they pleased. Their love
was childlike and spirited. According to many accounts, Rizal was ready to move to Japan,
stay with O-Sei-San, and live a peaceful life with his love.
Unfortunately for this relationship, country-saving duties would call and he had to
leave Japan for San Francisco. He never saw O-Sei-San again. Their affair lasted for around
two months.
Gertrude Beckett Suzanne Jacoby

44

Gertrude Beckett
In the same year he began and ended his relations with O-Sei-San, Jose Rizal, then 27,
went to London and met a woman named Gertrude Beckett, the eldest daughter of his
landlord. Gertrude showered Rizal with all the love and attention of a girl who is hopelessly
in love. She even assisted Rizal as he finished some of his popular sculptures, “Prometheus
Bound”, “the Triumph of Science over Death”. He called her Gettie, she called him Pettie.
But all documents had to say one thing: the feelings weren’t mutually shared.
In 1889, Rizal left London, and left Gettie a composite carving of the heads of the
Beckett sisters. Marcelo del Pilar, Rizal’s friend, said Rizal left London to move away from
Gertrude, whose idea of their relationship was more than what it really was – the most
tormenting kind: an unrequited love.
Suzanne Jacoby
Maybe Rizal was repulsed with the idea of having an idle mind. With all the
loneliness and anxiety from the turmoil of his country and family, he was even able to fill his
resting moments learning new things – like flirting with women. When he arrived in Belgium
in 1890, he lived at a boarding house that was run by two sisters whose last name was Jacoby.
The sisters had a niece named Suzanne. The relationship was probably a fling, as Rizal made
no mention of Suzanne when he wrote letters to his friends about his stay in Belgium. Rizal
left the country in August that year. Suzanne was heartbroken. Rizal continued writing El
Filibusterismo, writing for La Solidaridad, and worrying about his family back home. In
1891, Rizal went back to Belgium – not for Suzanne – but to finish writing El Filibusterismo.
He stayed for a few months, left and never returned.
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Nellie Bousted
Josephine Bracken
Nellie Boustead
It was the famous time when Antonio Luna and Jose Rizal almost got into a duel
because of a girl. The girl in the middle of that madness was Nellie Boustead. Rizal and
Nellie met in Biarritz, where Nellie’s wealthy family hosted Rizal’s stay at their residence on
the French Riviera. Before Biarritz, Rizal already made friends with the Boustead family a
few years back, and even played fencing with Nellie and her sister.
During his stay at the beautiful Biarritz vacation home, Rizal learned of Leonor
Rivera’s engagement and thought of pursuing romantic relationship with Nellie, who was
classy, educated, cheerful, and athletic. After strengthening their relationship, Rizal wrote
letters to his friends telling them about his intention to marry her. They wrre all supportive,
including Antonio Luna.
Although they seemed like the ideal couple, marriage for Rizal was still not meant to
be. First, Nellie’s mother did not think Rizal had the resources to be a good provider for her
daughter. Second, Nellie wanted Rizal to convert to Protestantism. Rizal refused. But their
relationship must have been strong enough because they ended up being friends after all the
drama.
Josephine Bracken
Josephine Bracken was the woman who stayed with Rizal until his execution in 1896.
She was also, allegedly, the woman whom Rizal married. However, accounts of their
marriage have been much-debated over the years.
Josephine was the adopted daughter of one George Taufer, whom she lived with in
Hong Kong fro years before she needed to seek help from an ophthalmologist due to
46

George’s blindness. They then sought the help of Jose Rizal, who was already exiled in
Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte at the time. Rizal and Josephine fell in love in a month and
made the announcement that they wanted to det married. But just like the other Rizal great
loves, this one was once again complicated. No priest would marry the two, for reasons that
are still unclear – but perhaps it was because of Rizal’s status in politics. Without a legal
paper, Rizal and Josephine lived together, and had a son who died a few hours after birth.
Rizal named his son after his father, Francisco. Up to this day, there is no legal proof that
Josephine ad Rizal ever got married.
Activity: Essay (20 points)
Among the women in Rizal’s life, who among them do you think was Rizal’s true love?
Explain.
and sense of
closure
stretched out
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Chapter 12: Rizal’s Novels
Objectives:
1. Analyzed the contextual message of Rizal’s various works particularly his

novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
2. Correlated to present day condition the significant events in Rizal’s Noli Me
Tangere.
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Noli Me Tangere
Noli Me Tángere, Latin for "Touch me not", is an 1887 novel by José Rizal during

the colonization of the Philippines by Spain to describe perceived inequities of
the Spanish Catholic friars and the ruling government.
Title
Rizal entitled this novel as such drawing inspiration from John 20:13-17 of the Bible, the
technical name of a particularly painful type of cancer (back in his time, it was unknown
what the modern name of said disease was). He proposed to probe all the cancers of Filipino
society that everyone else felt too painful to touch.
Background
José Rizal, a Filipino nationalist and medical doctor, conceived the idea of writing a novel
that would expose the ills of Philippine society after reading Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle
Tom's Cabin. He preferred that the prospective novel express the way Filipino culture was
perceived to be backward, anti-progress, anti-intellectual, and not conducive to the ideals of
the Age of Enlightenment. He was then a student of medicine in the Universidad Central de
Madrid.
In a reunion of Filipinos at the house of his friend Pedro A. Paterno in Madrid on 2 January
1884, Rizal proposed the writing of a novel about the Philippines written by a group of
Filipinos. His proposal was unanimously approved by the Filipinos present at the time,
among whom were Pedro, Maximino Viola and Antonio Paterno, Graciano López Jaena,
Evaristo Aguirre, Eduardo de Lete, Julio Llorente and Valentin Ventura. However, this
project did not materialize. The people who agreed to help Rizal with the novel did not write
anything. Initially, the novel was planned to cover and describe all phases of Filipino life, but
almost everybody wanted to write about women. Rizal even saw his companions spend more
time gambling and flirting with Spanish women. Because of this, he pulled out of the plan of
co-writing with others and decided to draft the novel alone.
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Plot
Crisóstomo Ibarra, the mestizo son of the recently deceased Don Rafael Ibarra, is

returning to San Diego in Laguna after seven years of study in Europe. Kapitán Tiago, a
family friend, bids him to spend his first night in Manila where Tiago hosts a reunion party at
his riverside home on Anloague Street. Crisóstomo obliges. At dinner he encounters old
friends, Manila high society, and Padre Dámaso, San Diego's old curate at the time Ibarra left
for Europe. Dámaso treats Crisóstomo with hostility, surprising the young man who took the
friar to be a friend of his father.
Crisóstomo excuses himself early and is making his way back to his hotel when
Lieutenant Guevarra, another friend of his father, catches up with him. As the two of them
walk to Crisóstomo's stop, and away from the socialites at the party who may possibly
compromise them if they heard, Guevarra reveals to the young man the events leading up to
Rafael's death and Dámaso's role in it. Crisóstomo, who has been grieving from the time he
learned of his father's death, decides to forgive and not seek revenge. Guevarra nevertheless
warns the young man to be careful.
The following day, Crisóstomo returns to Kapitán Tiago's home in order to meet with
his childhood sweetheart, Tiago's daughter María Clara. The two flirt and reminisce in the
azotea, a porch overlooking the river. María reads back to Crisóstomo his farewell letter
wherein he explained to her Rafael's wish for Crisóstomo to set out, to study in order to
become a more useful citizen of the country. Seeing Crisóstomo agitated at the mention of his
father, however, María playfully excuses herself, promising to see him again at her family's
San Diego home during the town fiesta.
Crisóstomo goes to the town cemetery upon reaching San Diego to visit his father's
grave. However, he learns from the gravedigger that the town curate had ordered that Rafael's
remains be exhumed and transferred to a Chinese cemetery. Although Crisóstomo is angered
at the revelation, the gravedigger adds that on the night he dug up the corpse, it rained hard
and he feared for his own soul, causing him to defy the order of the priest by throwing the
body into the lake. At that moment, Padre Bernardo Salví, the new curate of San Diego,
walks into the cemetery. Crisóstomo's anger explodes as he shoves him into the ground and
demands an accounting; Salví fearfully tells Crisóstomo that the transfer was ordered by the
previous curate, Padre Dámaso, causing the latter to leave in consternation.
Crisóstomo, committed to his patriotic endeavors, is determined not to seek revenge
and to put the matter behind him. As the days progress he carries out his plan to serve his
country as his father wanted. He intends to use his family wealth to build a school, believing
that his paisanos would benefit from a more modern education than what is offered in
the schools run by the government, whose curriculum was heavily tempered by the teachings
of the friars.
Enjoying massive support, even from the Spanish authorities, Crisóstomo's
preparations for his school advance quickly in only a few days. He receives counsel from
Don Anastacio, a revered local philosopher, who refers him to a progressive schoolmaster
who lamented the friars' influence on public education and wished to introduce reforms. The
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building was planned to begin construction with the cornerstone to be laid in a ceremony
during San Diego's town fiesta.
One day, taking a break, Crisóstomo, María, and their friends get on a boat and go on
a picnic along the shores of the Laguna de Baý, away from the town center. It is then
discovered that a crocodile had been lurking on the fish pens owned by the Ibarras. Elías, the
boat's pilot, jumps into the water with a bolo knife drawn. Sensing Elías is in danger,
Crisóstomo jumps in as well, and they subdue the animal together. Crisóstomo mildly scolds
the pilot for his rashness, while Elías proclaims himself in Crisóstomo's debt.
On the day of the fiesta, Elías warns Crisóstomo of a plot to kill him at
the cornerstone-laying. The ceremony involved the massive stone being lowered into a trench
by a wooden derrick. Crisóstomo, being the principal sponsor of the project, is to lay the
mortar using a trowel at the bottom of the trench. As he prepares to do so, however, the
derrick fails and the stone falls into the trench, bringing the derrick down with it in a mighty
crash. When the dust clears, a pale, dust-covered Crisóstomo stands stiffly by the trench,
having narrowly missed the stone. In his place beneath the stone is the would-be assassin.
Elías has disappeared.
The festivities continue at Crisóstomo's insistence. Later that day, he hosts a luncheon
to which Padre Dámaso gatecrashes. Over the meal, the old friar berates Crisóstomo, his
learning, his journeys, and the school project. The other guests hiss for discretion, but
Dámaso ignores them and continues in an even louder voice, insulting the memory of Rafael
in front of Crisóstomo. At the mention of his father, Crisóstomo strikes the friar unconscious
and holds a dinner knife to his neck. In an impassioned speech, Crisóstomo narrates to the
astonished guests everything he heard from Lieutenant Guevarra, who was an officer of the
local police, about Dámaso's schemes that resulted in the death of Rafael. As Crisóstomo is
about to stab Dámaso, however, María Clara stays his arm and pleads for mercy.
Crisóstomo is excommunicated from the church, but has it lifted through the
intercession of the sympathetic governor general. However, upon his return to San Diego,
María has turned sickly and refuses to see him. The new curate whom Crisóstomo roughly
accosted at the cemetery, Padre Salví, is seen hovering around the house. Crisóstomo then
meets the inoffensive Linares, a peninsular Spaniard who, unlike Crisóstomo, had been born
in Spain. Tiago presents Linares as María's new suitor.
Sensing Crisóstomo's influence with the government, Elías takes Crisóstomo into
confidence and one moonlit night, they secretly sail out into the lake. Elías tells him about
a revolutionary group poised for an open and violent clash with the government. This group
has reached out to Elías in a bid for him to join them in their imminent uprising. Elías tells
Crisóstomo that he managed to delay the group's plans by offering to speak to Crisóstomo
first, that Crisóstomo may use his influence to effect the reforms Elías and his group wish to
see.
In their conversation, Elías narrates his family's history, how his grandfather in his
youth worked as a bookkeeper in a Manila office but was accused of arson by the Spanish
owner when the office burned down. He was prosecuted and upon release was shunned by the
community as a dangerous lawbreaker. His wife turned to prostitution to support the family
but were eventually driven into the hinterlands.
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Crisóstomo sympathizes with Elías, but insists that he could do nothing, and that the
only change he was capable of was through his schoolbuilding project. Rebuffed, Elías
advises Crisóstomo to avoid any association with him in the future for his own safety.
Heartbroken and desperately needing to speak to María, Crisóstomo turns his focus
more towards his school. One evening, though, Elías returns with more information – a rogue
uprising was planned for that same night, and the instigators had used Crisóstomo's name in
vain to recruit malcontents. The authorities know of the uprising and are prepared to spring
a trap on the rebels.
In panic and ready to abandon his project, Crisóstomo enlists Elías in sorting out and
destroying documents in his study that may implicate him. Elías obliges, but comes across a
name familiar to him: Don Pedro Eibarramendia. Crisóstomo tells him that Pedro was his
great-grandfather, and that they had to shorten his long family name. Elías tells him
Eibarramendia was the same Spaniard who accused his grandfather of arson and was thus the
author of the misfortunes of Elías and his family. Frenzied, he raises his bolo
to smite Crisóstomo, but regains his senses and leaves the house very upset.
The uprising follows through, and many of the rebels are either captured or killed.
They point to Crisóstomo as instructed and Crisóstomo is arrested. The following morning,
the instigators are found dead. It is revealed that Padre Salví ordered the senior sexton to kill
them in order to prevent the chance of them confessing that he actually took part in the plot to
frame Crisóstomo. Elías, meanwhile, sneaks back into the Ibarra mansion during the night
and sorts through documents and valuables, then burns down the house.
Some time later, Kapitán Tiago hosts a dinner at his riverside house in Manila to
celebrate María Clara's engagement with Linares. Present at the party were Padre Dámaso,
Padre Salví, Lieutenant Guevarra, and other family friends. They were discussing the events
that happened in San Diego and Crisóstomo's fate.
Salví, who lusted after María Clara all along, says that he has requested to be
transferred to the Convent of the Poor Clares in Manila under the pretense of recent events in
San Diego being too great for him to bear. A despondent Guevarra outlines how the court
came to condemn Crisóstomo. In a signed letter, he wrote to a certain woman before leaving
for Europe, Crisóstomo spoke about his father, an alleged rebel who died in prison. Somehow
this letter fell into the hands of an enemy, and Crisóstomo's handwriting was imitated to
create the bogus orders used to recruit the malcontents to the San Diego uprising. Guevarra
remarks that the penmanship on the orders was similar to Crisóstomo's penmanship seven
years before, but not at the present day. And Crisóstomo had only to deny that the signature
on the original letter was his, and the charge of sedition founded on those bogus letters would
fail. But upon seeing the letter, which was the farewell letter he wrote to María Clara,
Crisóstomo apparently lost the will to fight the charges and owned the letter as his.
Guevarra then approaches María, who had been listening to his explanation. Privately
but sorrowfully, he congratulates her for her common sense in yielding Crisóstomo's farewell
letter. Now, the old officer tells her, she can live a life of peace. María is devastated.
Later that evening Crisóstomo, having escaped from prison with the help of Elías, climbs up
the azotea and confronts María in secret. María, distraught, does not deny giving up his
farewell letter, but explains she did so only because Salví found Dámaso's old letters in the
San Diego parsonage, letters from María's mother who was then pregnant with María. It turns
52

out that Dámaso was María's father. Salví promised not to divulge Dámaso's letters to the
public in exchange for Crisóstomo's farewell letter. Crisóstomo forgives her, María swears
her undying love, and they part with a kiss.
Crisóstomo and Elías escape on Elías's boat. They slip unnoticed through the Estero
de Binondo and into the Pasig River. Elías tells Crisóstomo that his treasures and documents
are buried in the middle of the forest owned by the Ibarras in San Diego. Wishing to make
restitution, Crisóstomo offers Elías the chance to escape with him to a foreign country, where
they will live as brothers. Elías declines, stating that his fate is with the country he wishes to
see reformed and liberated.
Crisóstomo then tells him of his own desire for revenge and revolution, to lengths that
even Elías was unwilling to go. Elías tries to reason with him, but sentries catch up with them
at the mouth of the Pasig River and pursue them across Laguna de Bay. Elías orders
Crisóstomo to lie down and to meet with him in a few days at the mausoleum of Crisóstomo's
grandfather in San Diego, as he jumps into the water in an effort to distract the pursuers. Elías
is shot several times.
The following day, news of the chase were in the newspapers. It is reported that Crisóstomo,
the fugitive, had been killed by sentries in pursuit. At the news, María remorsefully demands
of Dámaso that her wedding with Linares be called off and that she be entered into the
cloister, or the grave.
Seeing her resolution, Dámaso admits that the true reason that he ruined the Ibarra
family and her relationship with Crisóstomo was because he was a mere mestizo and Dámaso
wanted María to be as happy as she could be, and that was possible only if she were to marry
a full-blooded peninsular Spaniard. María would not hear of it and repeated her ultimatum,
the cloister or the grave. Knowing fully why Salví had earlier requested to be assigned as
chaplain in the Convent of the Poor Clares, Dámaso pleads with María to reconsider, but to
no avail. Weeping, Dámaso consents, knowing the horrible fate that awaits his daughter
within the convent but finding it more tolerable than her suicide.
A few nights later in the forest of the Ibarras, a boy pursues his mother through the
darkness. The woman went insane with the constant beating of her husband and the loss of
her other son, an altar boy, in the hands of Padre Salví. Basilio, the boy, catches up with Sisa,
his mother, inside the Ibarra mausoleum in the middle of the forest, but the strain had already
been too great for Sisa. She dies in Basilio's embrace.
Basilio weeps for his mother, but then looks up to see Elías staring at them. Elías was
dying himself, having lost a lot of blood and having had no food or nourishment for several
days as he made his way to the mausoleum. He instructs Basilio to burn their bodies and if no
one comes, to dig inside the mausoleum. He will find treasure, which he is to use for his own
education.
As Basilio leaves to fetch the wood, Elías sinks to the ground and says that he will die
without seeing the dawn of freedom for his people and that those who see it must welcome it
and not forget them that died in the darkness.
In the epilogue, Padre Dámaso is transferred to occupy a curacy in a remote town.
Distraught, he is found dead a day later. Kapitán Tiago fell into depression and became
addicted to opium and is forgotten by the town. Padre Salví, meanwhile, awaits his
53

consecration as a bishop. He is also the head priest of the convent where María Clara resides.
Nothing is heard of María Clara; however, on a September night, during a typhoon, two
patrolmen reported seeing a specter (implied to be María Clara) on the roof of the Convent of
the Poor Clares moaning and weeping in despair.
The next day, a representative of the authorities visited the convent to investigate
previous night's events and asked to inspect all the nuns. One of the nuns had a wet and torn
gown and with tears told the representative of "tales of horror" and begged for "protection
against the outrages of hypocrisy" (which gives the implication that Padre Salví regularly
rapes her when he is present). The abbess however, said that she was nothing more than a
madwoman. A General J. also attempted to investigate the nun's case, but by then the abbess
prohibited visits to the convent. Nothing more was said again about María Clara.
Publication history
Rizal finished the novel in February 1887. At first, according to one of Rizal's
biographers, Rizal feared the novel might not be printed, and that it would remain unread. He
was struggling with financial constraints at the time and thought it would be hard to pursue
printing the novel.
Financial aid came from a friend named Máximo Viola; this helped him print the
book at Berliner Buchdruckerei-Aktiengesellschaft in Berlin. Rizal was initially hesitant, but
Viola insisted and ended up lending Rizal ₱300 for 2,000 copies. The printing was finished
earlier than the estimated five months. Viola arrived in Berlin in December 1886, and by
March 21, 1887, Rizal had sent a copy of the novel to his friend, Blumentritt.
Influence on Filipino nationalism

Rizal depicted nationality by emphasizing the positive qualities of Filipinos: the
devotion of a Filipina and her influence on a man's life, the deep sense of gratitude, and the
solid common sense of the Filipinos under the Spanish regime. The work was instrumental in
creating a unified Filipino national identity and consciousness, as many natives previously
identified with their respective regions. It lampooned, caricatured and exposed various
elements in colonial society. The book indirectly influenced the Philippine Revolution of
independence from the Spanish Empire, even though Rizal actually advocated direct
representation to the Spanish government and an overall larger role for the Philippines within
Spain's political affairs.
El Filibusterismo
El filibusterismo (transl. The filibusterism; The Subversive or The Subversion, as in
the Locsín English translation, are also possible translations), also known by its alternative
English title The Reign of Greed, is the second novel written by Philippine national hero José
Rizal. It is the sequel to Noli Me Tángere and, like the first book, was written in Spanish. It
was first published in 1891 in Ghent.
54

The novel centers on the Noli-El fili duology's main character Crisóstomo Ibarra, now
returning for vengeance as "Simoun". The novel's dark theme departs dramatically from the
previous novel's hopeful and romantic atmosphere, signifying Ibarra's resort to solving his
country's issues through violent means, after his previous attempt in reforming the country's
system made no effect and seemed impossible with the corrupt attitude of the Spaniards
toward the Filipinos.
The novel, along with its predecessor, was banned in some parts of the Philippines as
a result of their portrayals of the Spanish government's abuses and corruption. These novels,
along with Rizal's involvement in organizations that aimed to address and reform the Spanish
system and its issues, led to Rizal's exile to Dapitan and eventual execution. Both the novel
and its predecessor, along with Rizal's last poem, are now considered Rizal's literary
masterpieces.
Both of Rizal's novels had a profound effect on Philippine society in terms of views
about national identity, the Catholic faith and its influence on the Filipino's choice, and the
government's issues in corruption, abuse of power, and discrimination, and on a larger scale,
the issues related to the effect of colonization on people's lives and the cause for
independence. These novels later on indirectly became the inspiration to start the Philippine
Revolution.
Plot:
In the events of the previous novel, Crisóstomo Ibarra, a reform-minded mestizo who
tried to establish a modern school in his hometown of San Diego and marry his
childhood sweetheart, was falsely accused of rebellion and presumed dead after a shootout
following his escape from prison. Elías, his friend who was also a reformer, sacrificed his life
to give Crisóstomo a chance to regain his treasure and flee the country, and hopefully
continue their crusade for reforms from abroad. After a thirteen-year absence from
55

the country, a more revolutionary Crisóstomo has returned, having taken the identity of
Simoun, a corrupt jeweler whose objective is to drive the government to commit as much
abuse as possible in order to drive people into revolution.
Simoun goes from town to town presumably to sell his jewels. In San Diego, he goes
to the Ibarra mausoleum to retrieve more of his treasure but accidentally runs into Basilio,
who was then also in the mausoleum visiting his mother's grave. In the years since the death
of his mother, Basilio had been serving as Kapitán Tiago's servant in exchange for being
allowed to study. He is now an aspiring doctor on his last year at university as well as heir to
Kapitán Tiago's wealth. When Basilio recognizes Simoun as Crisóstomo Ibarra, Simoun
reveals his motives to Basilio and offers him a place in his plans. Too secure of his place in
the world, Basilio declines.
At Barrio Sagpang in the town of Tiani, Simoun stays at the house of the
village's cabeza de barangay, Tales. Having suffered misfortune after misfortune in recent
years, Kabesang Tales is unable to resist the temptation to steal Simoun's revolver and join
the bandits.
In Los Baños, Simoun joins his friend, the Captain-General, who is then taking a
break from a hunting excursion. In a friendly game of cards with him and his cronies, Simoun
raises the stakes higher and higher and half-jokingly secures blank orders for deportation,
imprisonment, and summary execution from the Captain-General.
In Manila, Simoun meets with Quiroga, a wealthy Chinese businessman and aspiring
consul-general for the Chinese empire. Quiroga is heavily in Simoun's debt, but Simoun
offers him a steep discount if Quiroga does him a favor—to store Simoun's massive arsenal
of rifles in Quiroga's warehouses, to be used presumably for extortion activities with Manila's
elite. Quiroga, who hated guns, reluctantly agrees.
During the Quiapo Fair, a talking heads exhibit ostensibly organized by a certain Mr.
Leeds but secretly commissioned by Simoun is drawing popular acclaim. Padre Bernardo
Salví, now chaplain of the Convent of the Poor Clares, attends one of the performances. The
exhibit is set in Ptolemaic Egypt but features a tale that closely resembled that of Crisóstomo
Ibarra and María Clara, and their fate under Salví. The show ends with an ominous vow of
revenge. Deeply overcome with guilt and fear, Salví recommends the show be banned, but
not before Mr. Leeds sailed for Hong Kong.
Months pass and the night of Simoun's revolution comes. Simoun visits Basilio in
Tiago's house and tries to convince him again to join his revolution. Simoun's plan is for a
cannon volley to be fired, at which point Kabesang Tales, now a bandit who calls himself
Matanglawin, and Simoun who managed to deceive and recruit a sizable rogue force among
the government troops, will lead their forces into the city. The leaders of the Church, the
University, scores of bureaucrats, the Captain-General himself, as well as the bulk of officers
guarding them are all conveniently located in one location, the theater where a controversial
and much-hyped performance of Les Cloches de Corneville is taking place. While Simoun
and Matanglawin direct their forces, Basilio and several others are to force open the door of
the Convent of the Poor Clares and rescue María Clara.
However, Basilio reports to Simoun that María Clara died just that afternoon, killed
by the travails of monastic life under Salví, who always lusted after her. Simoun, driven by
56

grief, aborts the attack and becomes crestfallen throughout the night. It will be reported later
on that he suffered an "accident" that night, leaving him confined to his bed.
The following day posters threatening violence to the leaders of the university and the
government are found at the university doors. A reform-oriented student group to which
Basilio belonged is named the primary suspects; the members are arrested. They are
eventually freed through the intercession of relatives, except for Basilio who is an orphan and
has no means to pay for his freedom. During his imprisonment, he learns that Capitan Tiago
has died, leaving him with nothing (but Tiago's will was actually forged by Padre Írene,
Tiago's spiritual advisor who also supplies him with opium); his childhood sweetheart has
committed suicide to avoid getting raped by the parish priest when she tried asking for help
on Basilio's behalf; and that he has missed his graduation and will be required to study for
another year, but now with no funds to go by. Released through the intercession of Simoun, a
darkened, disillusioned Basilio joins Simoun's cause wholeheartedly.
Simoun, meanwhile, has been organizing a new revolution, and he reveals his plans to
a now committed Basilio. The wedding of Juanito Peláez and Paulita Gomez will be used to
coordinate the attack upon the city. As the Peláez and Gomez families are prominent
members of the Manila elite, leaders of the church and civil government are invited to the
reception. The Captain-General, who declined to extend his tenure despite Simoun's urging,
is leaving in two days and is the guest of honor.
Simoun will personally deliver a pomegranate-shaped crystal lamp as a wedding gift.
The lamp is to be placed on a plinth at the reception venue and will be bright enough to
illuminate the entire hall, which was also walled with mirrors. After some time the light will
flicker as if to go out. When someone attempts to raise the wick, a mechanism hidden within
the lamp containing fulminated mercury will detonate, igniting the lamp which is actually
filled with nitroglycerin, killing everyone in an enormous blast.
At the sound of the explosion, Simoun's mercenaries will attack, reinforced by
Matanglawin and his bandits who will descend upon the city from the surrounding hills.
Simoun postulates that at the chaos, the masses, already worked to a panic by the
government's heavy-handed response to the poster incident, as well as rumors of German
ships at the bay to lend their firepower to any uprising against the Spanish government, will
step out in desperation to kill or be killed. Basilio and a few others are to put themselves at
their head and lead them to Quiroga's warehouses, where Simoun's guns are still being kept.
The plan thus finalized, Simoun gives Basilio a loaded revolver and sends him away to await
further instructions.
Basilio walks the streets for hours and passes by his old home, Kapitán Tiago's
riverside house on Anloague Street. He discovers that this was to be the reception venue –
Juanito Peláez's father bought Tiago's house as a gift for the newlywed couple. Sometime
later, he sees Simoun enter the house with the lamp, then hastily exit the house and board his
carriage. Basilio begins to move away but sees Isagani, his friend and Paulita Gomez's former
lover, sadly looking at Paulita through the window. Noting how close they were to the
condemned house, Basilio tries to head Isagani off, but Isagani was too dazed with grief to
listen to him. In desperation, Basilio reveals to Isagani how the house is set to explode at any
time then. But when Isagani still refuses to heed him, Basilio flees, leaving Isagani to his fate.
57

Seeing Basilio's demeanor, Isagani is temporarily, rather belatedly unnerved by the

revelation. Isagani rushes into the house, seizes the lamp leaving the hall in darkness, and
throws it into the river. With this, Simoun's second revolution fails as well.
In the following days, as the trappings at the reception venue are torn down, sacks
containing gunpowder are discovered hidden under the boards all over the house. Simoun,
who had directed the renovations, is exposed. With his friend, the Captain-General, having
left for Spain, Simoun is left without his protector and is forced to flee. A manhunt ensues
and Simoun is chased as far away as the shores of the Pacific. He then spends the rest of his
days hiding in the ancestral mansion of Padre Florentino, Isagani's uncle.
One day, the lieutenant of the local Guardia Civil informs Florentino that he received
an order to arrest Simoun that night. In response, Simoun drinks the slow-acting poison
which he always kept in a compartment on his treasure chest. Simoun then makes his final
confession to Florentino, first revealing his true name, to Florentino's shock. He goes on to
narrate how thirteen years before, as Crisóstomo Ibarra, he lost everything in the Philippines
despite his good intentions. Crisóstomo swore vengeance. Retrieving some of his family's
treasure Elias buried in the Ibarra mausoleum in the forest, Crisóstomo fled to foreign lands
and engaged in trade. He took part in the war in Cuba, aiding first one side and then another,
but always profiting. There Crisóstomo met the Captain-General who was then a major,
whose goodwill he won first by loans of money, and afterwards by covering for his criminal
activity. Crisóstomo bribed his way to secure the major's promotion to Captain-General and
his assignment to the Philippines. Once in the country, Crisóstomo then used him as a blind
tool and incited him to all kinds of injustice, availing himself of the Captain-General's
insatiable lust for gold.
The confession is long and arduous, and night has fallen when Crisóstomo finished. In
the end, Florentino assures the dying man of God's mercy, but explains that his revolution
failed because he has chosen means that God cannot sanction. Crisóstomo bitterly accepts the
explanation and dies.
Realizing that the arresting officers will confiscate Crisóstomo's possessions, Florentino
divests him of his jewels and casts them into the Pacific, proclaiming that God will provide
means to draw them out if they should be needed for righteous causes, God will provide the
means to draw them out and that they will not be used to either distort justice or incite greed.
Activity: (30 points)

In a bond paper or one whole sheet of paper, make reaction paper each of the novels of Rizal
as a whole. Indicate your own opinions and send it through messenger.
58

and sense of
closure
stretched out
Chapter 13
Other Works and Writings, After his death and Legacies
Objective: At the end of the lesson, the student should have analyzed and
elaborated the message of the writing, legacies and remembrance of Rizal
through writing essays and reflections.
59

Rizal wrote mostly in Spanish, the lingua franca of the Spanish East Indies, though some of
his letters (for example Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos) were written in Tagalog. His
works have since been translated into a number of languages including Tagalog and English.
Novels and essays
 "El amor patrio", 1882 essay

 "Toast to Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo", 1884 speech given at Restaurante Ingles,
Madrid
 Noli Me Tángere, 1887 novel (literally Latin for 'touch me not', from John 20:17)
 Alin Mang Lahi ("Whate'er the Race"), a Kundiman attributed to Dr. José Rizal
 "Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga-Malolos" (To the Young Women of Malolos), 1889 letter
 Annotations to Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, 1889
 "Filipinas dentro de cien años" (The Philippines a Century Hence), 1889–90 essay
 "Sobre la indolencia de los filipinos" (The Indolence of Filipinos), 1890 essay
 "Como se gobiernan las Filipinas" (Governing the Philippine islands), 1890 essay
 El filibusterismo, 1891 novel; sequel to Noli Me Tángere
 Una visita del Señor a Filipinas, also known as Friars and Filipinos, 14-page
unfinished novel written in 1889
 Memorias de un Gallo, 2-page unfinished satire
 Makamisa, unfinished Tagalog-language novel written in 1892
The Triumph of Science over Death, by Rizal.
Poetry
 "Felicitación" (1874/75)
 "El embarque" (The Embarkation, 1875)
 "Por la educación recibe lustre la patria" (1876)
 "Un recuerdo á mi pueblo" (1876)
 "Al niño Jesús" (c. 1876)
 "A la juventud filipina" (To the Philippine Youth, 1879)
 "¡Me piden versos!" (1882)
 "Canto de María Clara" (from Noli Me Tángere, 1887)
 "Himno al trabajo" (Dalit sa Paggawa, 1888)
 "Kundiman" (disputed, 1889) - also attributed to Pedro Paterno
 "A mi musa" (To My Muse, 1890)
 "El canto del viajero" (1892–96)
 "Mi retiro" (1895)
60

 "Mi último adiós" (1896)

 "Mi primera inspiracion" (disputed) - also attributed to Antonio Lopez, Rizal's
nephew
Plays
 El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of Gods)

 Junto al Pasig (Along the Pasig)
 San Euistaquio, Mártyr (Saint Eustache, the martyr)
Other works
Rizal also tried his hand at painting and sculpture. His most famous sculptural work was "The
Triumph of Science over Death", a clay sculpture of a naked young woman with overflowing
hair, standing on a skull while bearing a torch held high. The woman symbolized the
ignorance of humankind during the Dark Ages, while the torch she bore symbolized the
enlightenment science brings over the whole world. He sent the sculpture as a gift to his dear
friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, together with another one named "The Triumph of Death over
Life".
The woman is shown trampling the skull, a symbol of death, to signify the victory the
humankind achieved by conquering the bane of death through their scientific advancements.
The original sculpture is now displayed at the Rizal Shrine Museum at Fort Santiago in
Intramuros, Manila. A large replica, made of concrete, stands in front of Fernando Calderón
Hall, the building which houses the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines
Manila along Pedro Gil Street in Ermita, Manila.
After his death

Retraction controversy
Several historians report that Rizal retracted his anti-Catholic ideas through a
document which stated: "I retract with all my heart whatever in my words, writings,
publications and conduct have been contrary to my character as a son of the Catholic
Church."[note 11] However, there are doubts of its authenticity given that there is no
certificate[clarification needed] of Rizal's Catholic marriage to Josephine Bracken. Also there is an
allegation that the retraction document was a forgery.
After analyzing six major documents of Rizal, Ricardo Pascual concluded that the
retraction document, said to have been discovered in 1935, was not in Rizal's handwriting.
Senator Rafael Palma, a former President of the University of the Philippines and a
prominent Mason, argued that a retraction is not in keeping with Rizal's character and mature
beliefs. He called the retraction story a "pious fraud." Others who deny the retraction
are Frank Laubach, a Protestant minister; Austin Coates, a British writer; and Ricardo
Manapat, director of the National Archives.
61

Those who affirm the authenticity of Rizal's retraction are prominent Philippine
historians such as Nick Joaquin, Nicolas Zafra of UP León María Guerrero III, Gregorio
Zaide, Guillermo Gómez Rivera, Ambeth Ocampo, John Schumacher, Antonio Molina, Paul
Dumol and Austin Craig. They take the retraction document as authentic, having been judged
as such by a foremost expert on the writings of Rizal, Teodoro Kalaw (a 33rd degree Mason)
and "handwriting experts...known and recognized in our courts of justice", H. Otley
Beyer and Dr. José I. Del Rosario, both of UP.
Historians also refer to 11 eyewitnesses when Rizal wrote his retraction, signed a
Catholic prayer book, and recited Catholic prayers, and the multitude who saw him kiss
the crucifix before his execution. A great grand nephew of Rizal, Fr. Marciano Guzman, cites
that Rizal's 4 confessions were certified by 5 eyewitnesses, 10 qualified witnesses, 7
newspapers, and 12 historians and writers including Aglipayan bishops, Masons and anti-
clericals. One witness was the head of the Spanish Supreme Court at the time of his notarized
declaration and was highly esteemed by Rizal for his integrity.
Because of what he sees as the strength these direct evidence have in the light of
the historical method, in contrast with merely circumstantial evidence, UP
professor emeritus of history Nicolas Zafra called the retraction "a plain unadorned fact of
history." Guzmán attributes the denial of retraction to "the blatant disbelief and stubbornness"
of some Masons. To explain the retraction Guzman said that the factors are the long
discussion and debate which appealed to reason and logic that he had with Fr. Balaguer, the
visits of his mentors and friends from the Ateneo, and the grace of God due the numerous
prayers of religious communities.
Supporters see in the retraction Rizal's "moral courage...to recognize his
mistakes," his reversion to the "true faith", and thus his "unfading glory," and a return to the
"ideals of his fathers" which "did not diminish his stature as a great patriot; on the contrary, it
increased that stature to greatness." On the other hand, senator Jose Diokno stated, "Surely
whether Rizal died as a Catholic or an apostate adds or detracts nothing from his greatness as
a Filipino... Catholic or Mason, Rizal is still Rizal – the hero who courted death 'to prove to
those who deny our patriotism that we know how to die for our duty and our beliefs'."
Mi Ultimo Adios
The poem is more aptly titled, "Adiós, Patria Adorada" (literally "Farewell, Beloved
Fatherland"), by virtue of logic and literary tradition, the words coming from the first line of
the poem itself. It first appeared in print not in Manila but in Hong Kong in 1897, when a
copy of the poem and an accompanying photograph came to J. P. Braga who decided to
publish it in a monthly journal he edited. There was a delay when Braga, who greatly admired
Rizal, wanted a good facsimile of the photograph and sent it to be engraved in London, a
process taking well over two months. It finally appeared under 'Mi último pensamiento,' a
title he supplied and by which it was known for a few years. Thus, the Jesuit Balaguer's
anonymous account of the retraction and the marriage to Josephine was published in
Barcelona before word of the poem's existence had reached him and he could revise what he
had written. His account was too elaborate for Rizal to have had time to write "Adiós."
62

Later life of Bracken

Josephine Bracken, whom Rizal addressed as his wife on his last day, promptly joined
the revolutionary forces in Cavite province, making her way through thicket and mud across
enemy lines, and helped reloading spent cartridges at the arsenal in Imus under the
revolutionary General Pantaleón García. Imus came under threat of recapture that the
operation was moved, with Bracken, to Maragondon, the mountain redoubt in Cavite.
She witnessed the Tejeros Convention prior to returning to Manila and was
summoned by the Governor-General, but owing to her stepfather's American citizenship she
could not be forcibly deported. She left voluntarily returning to Hong Kong. She later married
another Filipino, Vicente Abad, a mestizo acting as agent for the Tabacalera firm in the
Philippines. She died of tuberculosis in Hong Kong on March 15, 1902, and was buried at the
Happy Valley Cemetery. She was immortalized by Rizal in the last stanza of Mi Ultimo
Adios: "Farewell, sweet stranger, my friend, my joy...".
Legacy and remembrance

Rizal was a contemporary of Gandhi, Tagore and Sun Yat Sen who also advocated
liberty through peaceful means rather than by violent revolution. Coinciding with the
appearance of those other leaders, Rizal from an early age had been enunciating in poems,
tracts and plays, ideas all his own of modern nationhood as a practical possibility in Asia.
Though popularly mentioned, especially on blogs, there is no evidence to suggest that
Gandhi or Nehru may have corresponded with Rizal, neither have they mentioned him in any
of their memoirs or letters. But it was documented by Rizal's biographer, Austin Coates who
interviewed Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi that Rizal was mentioned, specifically in Nehru's
prison letters to his daughter Indira.
As a political figure, José Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic
organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan led by Andrés Bonifacio, , a secret
society which would start the Philippine Revolution against Spain that eventually laid the
foundation of the First Philippine Republic under Emilio Aguinaldo. He was a proponent of
achieving Philippine self-government peacefully through institutional reform rather than
through violent revolution, and would only support "violent means" as a last resort. Rizal
believed that the only justification for national liberation and self-government was the
restoration of the dignity of the people, saying "Why independence, if the slaves of today will
be the tyrants of tomorrow?" However, through careful examination of his works and
statements, including Mi Ultimo Adios, Rizal reveals himself as a revolutionary. His image as
the Tagalog Christ also intensified early reverence to him.
Rizal, through his reading of Morga and other western historians, knew of the genial
image of Spain's early relations with his people. In his writings, he showed the disparity
between the early colonialists and those of his day, with the latter's injustices giving rise
to Gomburza and the Philippine Revolution of 1896. The English biographer, Austin Coates,
and writer, Benedict Anderson, believe that Rizal gave the Philippine revolution a genuinely
national character; and that Rizal's patriotism and his standing as one of Asia's first
intellectuals have inspired others of the importance of a national identity to nation-building.
63

Activity: Essay (20 points)

In your own opinion, if Rizal became a president of the country, what do you think he can
contribute to the Philippines in his administration? Explain. Send your answers through
messenger.
and sense of
closure
stretched out
References:
64

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Module On GE 9 Life, Works & Writings of Rizal

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1

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

This is for NLPSC Use Only

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

On May 12, 1956, a compromise inserted by Committee on Education chairman

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

________________1. Who is the the author of Republic Act 1425?

________________5. When was the act enacted into law?

RUBRICS 15 points 8 to 14 points 1 to 7 points no points

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

De Ocampo stated at www.prezi.com that according to the biographer, Rafael Palma

Historical Context and Legal Basis of Rizal Day

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

A crowd estimated to be from 300-500,000 persons gathered at the Luneta on

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

__________________ 1. The US governor-general in the Philippines who sponsored Dr. Jose

__________________ 6. President Quezon declared the adoption of Tagalog as the basis of

__________________ 8. What constitution makes the December 30 as the day of

_________________10. When was the centenary celebration of the martyrdom of Rizal?

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

RUBRICS 15 points 8 to 14 points 1 to 7 points no points

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Objective: At the end of the lesson, the student should have

United States of America in 1861

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Queen Victoria of United Kingdom in 1861

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

__________________10. What is the date of birth of Rizal?

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

RUBRICS 10 points 6 to 9 points 1 to 5 points no points

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Francisco Rizal Mercado

Teodora Alonso Realonda

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

The Children of Francisco and Teodora

1. Saturnina Mercado Hidalgo (1850-1913)

Lam-Co traveled to Manila from Xiamen, China, possibly to avoid the famine or

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Items 10-8 7-4 3-1

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Young Jose Rizal

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics, martial arts, fencing and pistol

RUBRICS 9 to 10 points 6 to 8 points 3 to 4 points 0 t0 2 points

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Chapter 6: The Travels of Rizal

1. Identified the different places Rizal have traveled.

Disillusioned with low Filipinos in the Philippines were regarded as second-class

Rizal was actively involved in the Propaganda Movement, composed of Filipinos in

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Maximo Viola Ferdinand Blumentritt

First Meeting with Blumentritt

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

RUBRICS 10 points 6 to 9 points 1 to 5 points no points

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

Chapter 7: Rizal’s Homecoming

Rizal returned to the Philippines for the following reasons: