RIZAL’S EXILE, TRIAL, & DEATH

EXILE IN DAPITAN (1892-1896)

“He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to
his destination.” By JOSE RIZAL
 Jose Rizal arrived in Manila on June 26, 1892.
 July 3, 1892 he founded the La Liga Filipina in the house of Doroteo
Ongjunco in Tondo, Manila.
Four days after the civic organization's foundation, Jose Rizal was arrested by the
Spanish authorities on four grounds:
1. Publishing anti-Catholic and anti-friar books and articles;
2. Possessing a bundle of handbills “poor friars”
3. Dedicating his novel, El Filibusterismo to the three martyr priests (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)”; and
4. Criticizing the religion and aiming for its exclusion from the Filipino
culture.

ARRIVAL IN DAPITAN – Aboard the steamer Cebu and under heavy guard,

Rizal left Manila, sailing to Mindoro and Panay, until he reached Dapitan at seven
o'clock in the evening of June 17 until July 31, 1896.

CAREERS & CONTRIBUTIONS

AS A PHYSICIAN, Rizal provided free medicine to his patients, most of them
were underprivileged. However, he also had wealthy patients who paid him well
enough for his excellent surgical skill. Among them were:
 Don Ignacio Tumarong who gave Rizal 3000 pesos for restoring his sight
 an Englishman who gave him 500 pesos,
 and Aklanon haciendero, Don Francisco Azcarraga, who paid him a cargo of
sugar.
 August 1893 when his mother, Doña Teodora Alonzo, was placed under
ophthalmic surgery for the third time. The operation was a success, however,
 Alonzo, ignored her son's instructions and removed the bandages in her eyes
which led to irritation and infection.
 As an agriculturist, Rizal devoted time in planting important crops and fruit-
bearing trees in his 16-hectare land (later, reaching as large 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 a lottery on lands.
 From the United States, he imported agricultural machinery and introduced to
the native farmers of Dapitan the modern agricultural methods.
 AS AN ENGINEER, Rizal applied his knowledge through the waterworks
system he constructed in Dapitan. Going back to his academic life, Rizal
obtained the title of expert surveyor (perito agrimensor) from the Ateneo
Municipal.
RIZAL AS A TEACHER
 His exile in Dapitan gave him the opportunity to put into practice his
educational ideas.
 In 1883 he established a school which existed until the end of his exile in july
1896.
 It began with three pupils and in the course of time the enrollment increased to
16 and later 21.
 These pupils did not pay any tuition. Instead of charging them, he made them
work in his garden, fields, and construction projects in the community.
 Rizal taught these boys reading, writing, languages (spanish and english),
geography, mathematics arithmetic and geometry, industrial work, nature
study, morals and gymnastics
 Outside the class hours, rizal encouraged them to play games. They had
gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, stone-throwing, swimming, arnis (native
fencing), and boating.
  AS AN INVENTOR, in 1887, during his 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.
 AS AN ARTIST, in 1894 he modeled a statuette representing the mother-dog
killing the crocodile by way of avenging her lost puppy and called it “The
Mother’s Revenge”.
 Other sculptural works of Rizal in Dapitan were a bust of Father Guerrico
(one of his Ateneo professor)
 a statue of a girl called “The Dapitan Girl”,
 a woodcarving of Josephine Bracken (his wife).
 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,
Ilocano, Bisayan, Subanun, Spanish, Latin, Greek, English, French, German,
Arabic, Malayan, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Dutch, Catalan, Italian, Chinese,
Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian.
 AS A SCIENTIST, he discovered four fauna species:
 Draco rizali (flying lizard)
 Racophorus rizali (a tree frog)
 Spathomeles rizali (handsome fungus beetle)
 Apogonia rizali (flying beetle)

RIZAL AND JOSEPHINE BRACKEN

Josephine Bracken an Irish girl, her parents James Bracken, a corporal in the
British garrison, and Elizabeth Jane MacBride who died during her childbirth.
 Adopted daughter by Mr. George Taufer who later became blind.
 No ophthalmic specialist in Hong Kong could cure Mr. Taufer’s blindness
and so Mr. Taufer and Josephine seek the service of the famous ophthalmic
surgeon, Dr. Rizal.
 From Hongkong, she arrived in Dapitan in February, 1895 with his blind
foster father, George Taufer, and a Filipina named Manuela Orlac.
 Rizal and Bracken instantly fell in love with each other and in just one
month, they agreed to marry which appalled and disturbed Taufer.
 On the other hand, Taufer returned to Hongkong uncured.
  Because no priest was willing to marry the two, the couple exchanged their
vows before God in their own way, 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.

 20 November:  Preliminary investigation began with Rizal appearing before

Judge Advocate Colonel Francisco Olive. He answered questions asked by
Judge Advocate Olive accused Rizal being responsible and mastermind in the
uprising in Manila on august 1896. But he was not allowed to confront those
who testified against him. The investigation lasted five days.
 26 November:  The records of the case were handed over to Governor General
Ramon Blanco who then appointed Captain Rafael Dominguez as special Judge
Advocate and made a summary of the case and submitted judge advocate
Nicolas Dela pena.

2 KINDS OF EVIDENCES PRESENTED TO HIM DOCUMENTARY AND

TESTIMONIAL
 Documentary:
1. A letter of Antonio Luna to Mariano Ponce, dated Madrid October 16, 1888
showing Rizal’s connection with the Filipino reform campaign in Spain.
2. A letter of Rizal to his family dated Madrid August 20, 1890 stating that
deportations are good for they will encourage the people to hate tyranny.
3. A Letter from Marcelo H. del Pilar to Deodato Arellano, dated Madrid January
7, 1889 implicating Rizal in the propaganda campaign in Spain.
4. A poem entitled Kundiman allegedly written by Rizal in Manila Sept. 21, 1891.
5. A letter of Carlos Oliver to an unidentified person dated, September 21,1891.
describing Rizal to free Philippines from Spanish Oppression.
6. A masonic document dated, February 29, 1892 honoring Rizal of patriotic
services.
7. A letter signed Dimasalang to Tenluz (Juan Zulueta’s pseudonym) dated Hong
kong May 24, 1892 stating he was preparing a safe refuge to the Filipinos who
may be persecuted by the spanish authorities.
8. A letter of Dimasalang to one of the committee dated, Hong Kong June 1, 1892
solicitating the help of committee in the “patriotic work”.
9. An anonymous and undated letter to the editor of Hong Kong telegraph
censuring the banishment of Rizal in Dapitan.
10. A letter of Ildefonso Manuel to Rizal dated, Manila, September 3, 1892 saying
that the Filipino people look up to him (Rizal) as their savior.
11. A letter of Rizal Segundo, dated manila, September 17, 1893 informing an
unidentified correspondent of the arrest and banishment Doroteo Cortes and
Ambrosio Salvador.
12. A letter of Marcelo H, del Pilar to don Juan Tenluz dated, June 1 1893
recommending the establishment of special organization independent of
masonry to help the cause of the Filipino people.
13. Transcript of a speech pingkian (Emilio Jacinto) in the reunion of the
Katipunan. July 23, 1893 in which the following cry was uttered “long live
Philippines” “long live liberty long live Dr, Jose Rizal, Unity.
14. Transcript of speech of tik-tik (Jose Turiano Santiago) in the same Katiounan
reunion wherein the katipuneros shouted long live the eminent Dr. Rizal death
to the oppressor nation.
15. A poem by Laong laan, entitled a Talisay, in which the author makes the
Dapitan schoolboys sing that they know how to fight for their rights.

 TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE (13)

1. Martin Constantino 8. Francisco Quison
2. Aguedo del Rosario 9. Timoteo Paez
3. Jose Reyes 10. Deodato Arellano
4. Moises Salvador 11. Pedro serrano Laktaw
5. Jose Dizon 12. Antonio Salazar
6. Pio Valenzuela 13. Domingo Franco
7. Ambrosio Salvador
PENA’S RECOMMENDATION:
a) Rizal must be immediately sent to trial.
b) He must be held in prison under necessary security.
c) His properties must be issued with order of attachment, as an indemnity,
Rizal had to pay 1million pesos.
d) Instead of the civilian lawyer only an army officer is allowed to defend Rizal.
 8 December: From a list submitted to him by the authorities, he chose the
brother of his friend, Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade to become his trial lawyer.  He
was only made to choose among army officers and not a civilian lawyer.
 11 December:  In his prison cell, Rizal was read the charges against
him: “principal organizer and the living soul of the Filipino insurrection, the
founder of societies, periodicals and books dedicated to fomenting and
propagating the ideas of rebellion.”
 Rizal arraignment:
 Rizal was charged of the crime of rebellion and the formation of illegal
associations.
 He did not question the jurisdiction of the court
 He had nothing to amend except that during his exile in Dapitan in 1892, he had
not dealt with political matters.
 He had nothing to admit to the charges against him.
 He had nothing to admit on the declarations of the witnesses he had not met or
knew, against him.
 13 December:  Ramon Blanco was replaced by Camilo de Polavieja, a more
ruthless character, as Governor General of the Philippines.  Dominguez
submitted the papers of the Rizal case to Malacañan Palace.
 15 December:  Rizal issued his manifesto to certain Filipinos calling to end the
“absurd” rebellion and to fight for liberties with education as a prerequisite. 
The authorities suppressed the manifesto.
 25 December:  Rizal’s saddest Christmas, away from family and friends.
 26 December, 8:00 AM:  Trial of Rizal began at the Cuartel de España.  On the
same day, the court-martial secretly and unanimously voted for a guilty verdict
with the penalty of death before a firing squad.
 28 December:  Polavieja signed the death verdict.
 29 December, 5:30 AM he wrote two letters for his family and for his brother
Paciano.
 A message to his sisters to love their parents so they will be treated the same by
their children in time, he wanted to be buried in the ground with a stone cross
over it with his name, birth and death. Have pity on Josephine. A letter to
Paciano, he told him he missed him and asking forgiveness for leaving his old
parents in his care.
 29 December, 6:00 AM:  Rizal was read his verdict by Captain Rafael
Dominguez: To be shot the next day at 7:00 AM at the Luneta de Bagumbayan
(Rizal Park).
 29 December, 7:00 AM:  Rizal was transferred to the chapel cell adorned by
religious images to convince him to go back to the Catholic fold.  His first
visitors were Jesuit priests Fathers Miguel Saderra Mata and Luis Viza.
 29 December, 7:15 AM:  After Fr. Saderra left, Rizal asked Fr. Viza for the
Sacred Heart statuette which he carved when he was an Ateneo student.  From
his pocket the statuette appears.
 29 December, 8:00 AM:  Fr. Viza was relieved by Fr. Antonio Rosell who
joined Rizal for breakfast.  Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade joins them.
 29 December, 9:00 AM:  Fr. Federico Faura, who once said that Rizal would
lose his head for writing the Noli Me Tangere, arrived.  Rizal told him, “Father
you are indeed a prophet.”
 29 December, 10:00 AM:  Fathers José Vilaclara and Estanislao March visited
Rizal, followed by a Spanish journalist, Santiago Mataix of El Heraldo de
Madrid, for an interview.
 29 December, 12:00-3:30 PM:  Rizal’s time alone in his cell.  He had lunch,
wrote letters and probably wrote his last poem of 14 stanzas which he wrote in
his flowing handwriting in a very small piece of paper.  He hid it inside his
alcohol stove.  The untitled poem was later known as Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last
Farewell).  In its second stanza, he already praised the revolutionaries in the
battlefield for giving their lives “without doubt, without gloom.”
 29 December, 3:00 PM:  According to an account of the agent of the Cuerpo
de Vigilancia guarding Rizal’s cell, Rizal signed what seems to be the
document retracting his anti-Catholic writings and his membership in masonry. 
This event is a contentious issue among Rizal experts.
 29 December, 4:00 PM:  Visit of Rizal’s mother, Teodora Alonso.  Then
Rizal’s sister Trinidad entered to get her mother and Rizal whispered to her in
English referring to the alcohol stove, “There is something inside.”  They were
also accompanied by Narcisa, Lucia, Josefa, Maria and son Mauricio Cruz. 
Leoncio Lopez Rizal, Narcisa’s eleven-year-old son, was not allowed to enter
the cell.  While leaving for their carriages, an official handed over the alcohol
stove to Narcisa.  After their visit, Fathers Vilaclara and Estanislao March
returned to the cell followed by Father Rosell.
 29 December, 6:00 PM: Rizal was visited by the Dean of the Manila
Cathedral, Don Silvino Lopez Tuñon. Father March left Father Vilaclara to be
with the two.
 29 December, 8:00 PM:  Rizal’s last supper where he informed Captain
Dominguez that he already forgave those who condemned him.
 29 December, 9:30 PM:  Rizal was visited by the fiscal of the Royal Audiencia
of Manila, Don Gaspar Cestaño with whom Rizal offered the best chair of the
cell.  According to accounts, the fiscal left with “a good impression of Rizal’s
intelligence and noble character.”
 30 December, 5:30 AM:  Rizal took his last meal.  According to stories told to
Narcisa by Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade, Rizal threw some eggs in the corner of a
cell for the “poor rats,” “Let them have their fiesta too.”  Rizal also wrote to his
family and to his brother.
 30 December, 5:00 AM:  Teary-eyed Josephine Bracken and Josefa Rizal
came.  According to the testimony of the agent of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia,
Josephine and Rizal were married.  Josephine was gifted by Rizal with the
classic Thomas á Kempis book Imitations of Christ in which he inscribed, “To
my dear and unhappy wife, Josephine, December 30th, 1896, Jose Rizal.”  They
embraced for the last time.
 30 December, 6:00 AM:  Rizal wrote his father, Francisco Mercado “My
beloved Father, Pardon me for the pain with which I repay you for sorrows and
sacrifices for my education.  I did not want nor did I prefer it.  Goodbye, Father,
goodbye… Jose Rizal.”  To his mother, he had only these words, “To my very
dear Mother, Sra. Dña Teodora Alonso 6 o’clock in the morning, December 30,
1896.  Jose Rizal.”
 30 December, 6:30 AM: a trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago a signal to start
the death march from Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan begins.  4 soldiers with
bayoneted rifles lead the procession followed by Rizal, Taviel de Andrade,
Fathers Vilaclara and March and other soldiers.  They passed by the Intramuros
plaza, then turned right to the Postigo gate then left at Malecon, the bayside
road now known as Bonifacio Drive. Rizal was dressed elegantly in a black
suit, black derby hat and black shoes, white shirt and black tie. His arms tied
from elbow to elbow.
 30 December, 7:00 AM:  Rizal, after arriving at the execution site at the
Luneta de Bagumbayan, was checked with his pulse by Dr. Felipe Ruiz
Castillo.  It was perfectly normal.  Rizal once wrote, “I wish to show those who
deny us patriotism that we know how to die for our duty and our convictions.”
 “Preparen.” “Apunten.”  Rizal shouted, “Consummatum est.”  It is done.
 30 December, 7:03 AM:  With the captain shouting “Fuego!”  Shouts rang out
from the guns of eight indio soldiers.  Rizal, being a convicted criminal was not
facing the firing squad.  As he was hit, he resists and turns himself to face his
executors. He falls down, and dies facing the sky. After he was executed
 Spanish spectators shouted “long live Spain, death to the traitors. He was 35
years old.
 After his death, the Philippine Revolution continued until 1898. And with the
assistance of the United States, the Philippines declared its independence from
Spain on June 12, 1898. This was the time that the Philippine flag was waved at
General Emilio Aguinaldo’s residence in Kawit, Cavite.