Evidences

: Did not retract

•Baron Fernandez, an Eyewitness said that “I have documents stating
that before he faced death, Rizal told his sisters. Narcisa look inside his
shoes because he had left a letter there. According to Fernandez, the
letter could only be denial of his retraction because Rizal knew that friars
were misleading Filipinos and he wanted to set the record straight.

• Manuel Morato exposed that the documents of retraction were kept as
a secret and only few copies of it were furnished to the newspaper, but
with the exception of one person, nobody saw the original copy.

• When Rizal’s Family asked for the original copy of the said document or
a copy of the alleged retraction letter, the petition was denied and no one
knew where’s the original copy.

• Rizal’s burial was kept as a secret. No masses were made for his soul or
funeral held by the Catholics. In spite of the claim that Rizal was
reconciled with the church, He was not buried in the cemetery but on the
ground in Paco, Manila. No grave for Jose Rizal was made back then.

• Arguments on the retraction revolve around the veracity of the
confession Rizal purportedly signed prior to his execution and testimonies
of several witness who had seen the act carried out (Paraiso, 2012)

• Thirty-nine years later the original copy was found in the archdiocesan
archives. Ricardo Pascual Ph. D who was given permission by the
Archbishop Nozaleda to examine the document and later concluded in his
book, “Rizal beyond the Grave” that the documents presented was a
forgery. The common rebuttal of this argument was either Father
Balaguer or Father Pi had made errors in reproducing another copy of the
original.

• Furthermore, way back when Rizal was still exiled in Dapitan, Father
Sanchez- Rizal’s favourite teacher from Ateneo- was sent by the Jesuits
superiors to try to convince his former student’s allegation towards the
Catholic religion and Spanish religious in the Philippines. Father Sanchez
told him to retract in exchange of a professorship, a hundred thousand
pesos and an estate (Laubach, 1936) however Rizal rejected the offer.

• It was also argued that Rizal however retracted to save his family from
persecution and to give Josephine Bracken a legal status as his wife due
to that Father Balaguer claims that he married Rizal and Josephine though
there are no records or marriage certificate that could prove Father
Balaguer’s claim.

• “The strongest argument was the character of Rizal. It was but a few
months before that he had rejected Father Sanchez’ offer of a
professorship, a hundred thousand pesos, and an estate if he would
retract; and he had declared that he could not be bought for half the
Philippines.” (1) The Retraction Document is said to be a forgery.

• Those who strongly believed the faking of the Rizal retraction
document, reported that the forger of Rizal’s signature was Roman
Roque, the man who also forged the signature of Urbano Lacuna, which
was used to capture Aguinaldo. The mastermind, they say, in both
Lacuna’s and Rizal’s signature forging was Lazaro Segovia. They were
approached by Spanish friars during the final day of the Filipino-American
war to forge Rizal’s signature.

• Holes in the Jesuit’s story The Rizal family did not accept the retraction
and the marriage. They knew that that if he had retracted, he would
certainly have said so in his 6a.m. communication to his mother on the
fateful day of his execution. Balaguer’s account exposed itself through
major discrepancies in his story. His claim of marrying Rizal and Josephine

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was totally belied by the facts. In his account, Balaguer was totally
unaware that Rizal had written “Mi Ultimo Adios” on the eve of his
execution.

• If Rizal had indeed retracted, they would surely have given Rizal a
Catholic burial. How would he have been deprived of even a coffin, as in
fact it happened. he would not have been executed. But he was
executed; therefore Rizal did not retract.

• The retraction was supposed to have been signed by Jose Rizal
moments before his death. There were many witnesses, most of them
Jesuits. The document only surfaced for public viewing on May 13, 1935.
It was found by Fr. Manuel A. Gracia at the Catholic hierarchy’s archive in
Manila. But the original document was never shown to the public, only
reproductions of it.











https://nhcp.gov.ph/did-rizal-consider-retracting-while-in-dapitan/

http://nhcp.gov.ph/the-rizal-retraction-and-other-cases/

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https://prezi.com/zuchf8t_mfjj/ways-to-proving-that-rizal-did-not-
retract/

https://www.sidmartinbio.org/what-is-the-reason-why-rizal-did-not-
retract/#What_is_the_reason_why_Rizal_did_not_retract