Second Homecoming.

Rizal’s bold return to Manila in June, 1892 was his second homecoming, his first homecoming
from abroad being in August, 1887. It marked his re-entry into hazardous campaign for reforms.
He firmly believed that the fight for Filipino liberties had assumed a new phase; it must be
fought in the Philippines not in Spain, “The battlefield is in the Philippines.” He told countrymen
in Europe, “There is where we should meet... There we will help one another, there together we
will suffer or triumph perhaps”. Two months later, on December 31, 1891, he reiterated this
belief in a letter to Blumentritt, “I believe that La Solidaridad is no longer our battlefield; now it
is a new struggle… the fight is no longer in Madrid”. In going home to lead anew the reform
movement, he was like the biblical Daniel bearding the Spanish Lion in its own den.

Arrival in Manila with Sister.

At noon of June 26, 1892, Rizal and his widowed sister Lucia (wife of the late Mariano Herbosa)
arrived in Manila. A meticulous diarist, he described his second homecoming as follows:

“I arrived at Manila on 26 June (1892), Sunday, at 12:00 noon. I was met

by many carabineers headed by a major. There were in addition one
captain and one sergeant of the Veteran Civil Guard. I came down with
my luggage and they inspected me at the customhouse. From there I went
to Hotel de Oriente where I occupied room No. 22, facing the church of
Binondo”.

In the afternoon, at 4:00 o’clock, he went to Malacañan Palace to seek audience with the Spanish
governor general, General Eulogio Despujol, Conde de Caspe. He was told to come back at that
night at 7:00 o’clock. Promptly at 7:00 p.m., he returned to Malacañan and was able to confer
with Governor General Despujol, who agreed to pardon his father but not the rest of his family
and told him to return on Wednesday (June 29).

After his brief interview with the governor general, he visited his sisters in the city – first Narcisa
(Sisa, wife of Antonio Lopez) and later Nenang (Saturnina, wife of Manuel T. Hidalgo).
Visiting Friends in Central Luzon.

At 6:00 P.M. of the following day (June 27), Rizal boarded a train in Tutuban Station and visited
his friends in Malolos (Bulacan), San Fernando (Pampanga), Tarlac (Tarlac), and Bacolor
(Pampanga). He was welcomed and lavishly entertained at the homes of his friends. These
friends were good patriots, who were his supporters in the reform crusade, and he took the
opportunity to greet them personally and discussed the problems affecting their people.

Rizal returned by train to Manila on the next day, June 28, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Whether
he knew it or not, he was shadowed by government spies who watched carefully his every
movement. The homes he had visited were raided by the Guardia Civil which seized some copies
of Noli and Fili and some “subversive” pamphlets.

Other Interviews with Despujol.

After Rizal’s visit to his friends in Central Luzon, he had other interviews with Governor
Despujol. These interviews were vividly recorded in his diary, as follows:

On Wednesday (June 29 – Z) at 7:30, I saw His Excellency. I did not succeed to have the penalty
of exile lifted, but he gave me hope with regard to my sisters. As it was the feast of St. Peter and
St. Paul our interview ended at 9:15, I was to come again the following day at 7:30.

The following day, Thursday (June 30), we talked about the question of Borneo. The general was
opposed to it, very much opposed. He told me to come back Sunday.

On Sunday (June 3 – Z) I returned. We talked about sundry things and I thanked him for having
lifted the exile of my sisters. I told him that my father and brother would arrive on the first boat.
He asked me if I would like to go abroad to Hong Kong. I told him yes. He told me to return on
Wednesday.

References:

Zaide, G. & Zaide, S. Jose Rizal: Life, Works and Writings of a Genius Writer, Scientist,
and National Hero, 2nd ed. Manila: All Nations Publishing Co.