Rizal Without the Overcoat

Ambeth R. Ocampo

“Jose Rizal’s greatest misfortune was being acknowledged as National Hero of the
Philippines”

Was Jose Rizal an American sponsored hero?

- The Americans over emphasized Rizal and has pushed other heroes in
obscurity as second class heroes.
- The KKK password was Rizal
- Andres Bonifacio offered KKK honorary presidency to Rizal
Rizal and attempted to
rescue him in Dapitan
- Rizal was already considered a hero even before the Americans.
- The Americans built on the prevailing sentiment of the people

Jose Rizal’s Trip to America /

America / Rizal’s Anti Americanism

- He described Niagara falls as “not as pretty or mysteriously beautiful” as the

waterfalls in Los Banos
- Impressed with New York where “everything was new”
- “Undoubtedly, America
“Undoubtedly, America is a great country,
country, but it still has many defects. No civil
liberty”
- Rizal was no ordinary Asian traveller,
t raveller, “the only asian traveller who travelled
tr avelled
first class”
- “had he been subject to more discrimination, his impressions of America
would have been
been worse”
- Rizal loves America but not its people
- Americans were robots hurled to discredit Europe
- Though Rizal hated Spaniards he was was compelled to defend
defend Europe and Spain
against Americans

Recto’s Rizal Bill

- Recto fought “tooth and nail” to have the Rizal bill passed into law in 1956
- The Catholic
Catholic hierarchy found 170 passages in El Fili and 50 in Noli offensive
to the catholic faith
- Catholic schools threatened to close if the Recto bill was passed
- Church officials threatened to “punish” legislators
- There was apropos to use “expurgated” novels as textbooks, with the “un- “un-
expurgated” copies to be kept under lock and key.key. Recto threw this out
- “This is not a fight against Recto but a fight against Rizal...now that Rizal is
dead and they can no longer attempt at his life, they are attempting to blot out
his memory”.

Why Rizal is the National Hero

- Thru Rizal’s Letters, diaries and writings,

writings, he had planned his entire life down
to the last detail. He did not leave anything to chance, not even the
choreography of his death.
 - Rizal was a quiet and peaceful man who wilfully and calmly walked to his
death for his convictions.

Convictions:
o I cannot live knowing that many are suffering unjust persecution
because of me
o I know that the future of my country gravitates around me
o What matters death if one dies for what one loves, for ones country
and for those whom he loves?
o I would hesitate to serve my people (indios) if they require my services
in Philippine politics
o I shall die blessing my country and wishing her the dawn of her 
redemption

Deflating the Historical Ego

- There were 12 students in Rizal’s class, 9 of which got the same grade as
Rizal
- He got good grades in Ateneo but not in SantoTomas
- He was never granted the academic title Dr.
- Ocampo terms it as being “lost in translation”

Is Rizal Really Still Alive?

- Rizalistas believe that Rizal is alive and well in Mount Banahaw and he would
come back after the end of the world
- After his execution his body was reported missing and was replaced by a
white cock which flew in the direction of Cavite, supposedly to join the soul of 
Fr. Burgos who was also believed to be still alive
- Rizal’s soul was believed to have the ability to transfer from place to place
within the Paco cemetery
- Rizal’s continuing “existence” even after his death was brought about by
Filipino rebels using his name in recruiting more people to join the cause

The Writ that Could Have Changed History

- Writ of habeas corpus for Rizal

- Rizal left Dapitan for Barcelona
- His application to work for the Spanish army in Cuba was approved by the
Governador General
- He was implicated in a revolution which happened in Manila and was
immediately detained in Barcelona and sent back to the Philippines

The Other Rizal

- Paciano Rizal was a general in the revolution

- His membership in the katipunan is at question
- Jose was the only member of the family who used the surname Rizal to avoid
being associated with his brother 
- Paciano ran the hacienda and secretly sent his younger brother off to Europe
without their mothers consent
 - Paciano and Jose made a pact that they will work for the country and that only
one of them should get married

Blumentritt’s Role in the Propaganda War 

- Ferdinand Blumentritt is one of the first European scholars who specialized in

Philippine studies
- Blumentritt worked against U.S. imperialistic designs
- Blumentritt attacked anti-Filipino writers like Quiopquiap and Retana
- During the American period, he attacked James Le Roy
- German takeover 

Ho Chin Minh and Rizal

- Uncle Ho is the father of Vietnamese democracy

- The only similarity is in belief of nationality

The Everyday Rizal

- Rizal usually had hot chocolate and tuyo for breakfast

- He was too proud to let his landlady he didn’t have any money for food
- Rizal’s stinginess

Smoker’s Street and Betel Buts

- Calle Fumadero
- In 1879 Rizal bought hashish for experimental purposes

What did Jose Rizal Read?

- Rizal owned a collection of 22,000 books, which Josephine Bracken wanted

to obtain due to monetary value
-

The Great Dapitan Stocking Market

- Chinese prejudice
- Economic nationalism
- Despite his Chinese ancestry, Rizal had anti-Chinese feelings

Rizal and Orwell

- Animal farm
- Los animals de Suan

Rizal on Domingo de Ramos

- Christianity is no longer the religion of the poor but a church of the rich and
powerful against the poor and weak
- Anticlerical sentiment of Rizal and the revolution
- Filibustero

The matter of reading Rizal’s novels

 - The Filipino at present will only read Rizal’s work as either part of school or a
requirement
- Question of the texts meanings from generation to generation
- Translation of texts is a problem

Austin Coates

- London born Rizal biographer 

- Noted for writing a readable and approachable biography of Rizal as
compared to that of Retana and Leon ma. Guerrero
- In 1950 he set out in interviewing people who knew Rizal
- His interviews led him to discover that the intellectual community in Hong
Kong was populated by the Portuguese and not the Brits
- Josephine Bracken was buried in a paupers
- Coates believes that Rizal left behind an enigma
- Rizal was the first ophthalmic surgeon in Asia, trained by the best Opthalmic
surgeons in Europe

Manuel Sarkisyanz

- Rizal was not a martyr but a victim of a struggle between Spain and Spain
- Sarkisyanz was born in Armenia in 1923
- Professor of south east Asian history and politics in at the University of 
Heidelberg
- In a way Rizal was a martyr of Spanish democracy
- Francisco pi y Margall
- Prior to the establishment of “Rizalistas” Rizal was already consider as a
miracle worker (Medicine and Opthalmology)

The woman who could have been Mrs. Rizal

- Leonor Rivera is assumed to be Maria Clara

- When Jose met Leonor they immediately got engaged before Leonor became
15.
- Rizal and other upper class families did not adhere to old courting rituals
(service)
- When Rizal left, his relationship with Leonor became a relationship based on
correspondence
- Due to the separation, Leonor became “sickly”
- Leonor’s mother bribed the postman to give her all the letters from Rizal
- Leonor married Charles Henry Kipping as for a means to a brighter future
- Leonor agreed to marry kipping because she was convinced that Rizal had
forgotten her 
- Leonor died giving birth in 1893

Rizal’s Amusements

- Rizal’s kargada was at the right

 - Rizal had a liking for western women
- Had several “acquaintances “ in Europe

In Paris

- They lived it up in Paris, enjoying cultural and leisure activities

-  A past time was fencing and shooting, though Rizal’s skill is questionable
Demythologizing Rizal

- Doctor Maximo Viola

- Casas de palomas de bajo vuelo
- “Educational Trips”
- Viola had to produce another image
- Letters to Paciano would often portray his observations about prostitutes and
their ways

Did Rizal love Josephine Bracken enough to retract?

- They were only to be married if Rizal retracted from “religious error”

- “...She obeys me and attends to me in a way a Filipina may not easily do”
- 1896, Bracken has a miscarriage, at the same year she wanted to have a
breakup
- The Rizal family denies the marriage
- Issues with the will
- Bracken forgery
- La viuda de Rizal

Rizal’s last letters

- Rizal’s last meal was 3 hard boiled eggs, which he placed at the corner of his
cell saying “let the rats have a feast too”
- He instructed his family that after his execution he be buried under ground,
with a cross showing my name, date of birth and death, and the fence was to
be optional
- Rizal wrote letters to his brother and father asking for forgiveness
- “tell our father i remember him but how? I remember my whole childhood, his
tenderness, his love. Ask him to forgive me for the pain i caused him
unwillingly.

Mabini (as written by Andres Bonifacio’s wife)

- Emilio Jacinto mentions that Mabini says bad things about Rizal
- Mabini wants to stress that he was better than Rizal
- He only arrives at meetings when the food is already set

Rizal’s Vital Statistics

- Measurements based on Rizal’s coats

- Shoulder width 16” to 17”
- Chest 37”
- Waist 25” to 26”
- Head was 6 ½ “ across
- Measurements remain unverifiable
- Height varies from 4’11” to 5’3”

Rizal’s Penmanship

- Mabini has the smallest penmanship

- Marcelo H. Del Pilar has the worst
- Antonio Luna has the best (Best penmanship award in Ateneo)
- Graphology