An overview of Rizal’s life

Birth

Born: June 19, 1861in Kalamba, Laguna

Baptized: Jose Rizal Mercado

Kalamba: A small prosperous agricultural town devoted to the

production of sugar. Its inhabitants lived well. The soil was
fertile, its climate favorable. Its scenic beauty gave the young
Rizal the right impetus for his poetic and artistic creativity. Its
share of unhappiness also shaped his noble and heroic spirit.
The surrounding of his home opened him to many wonders of
nature – all these enhanced his perceptions. The elegant beauty
of the orchard and the gentle atmosphere of the family’s
rambling house left a deep impression on the youthful Rizal. It
was in this atmosphere that Rizal learned the early values of
love, affection and loyalty which blossomed forth in his mature
years and won him the esteem and admiration of his people.

Rizal’s Ancestors

Rizal was of mixed racial origin. On his father’s side, he

descended from an industrious and intelligent Chinese
merchant, Domingo Lamco, who married a Chinese mestiza, Inez
de la Rosa. From the Parian the family migrated to Biňan and
became tenants in the Dominican estate. Lamco’s only son,
Francisco, who was to be Rizal’s great grand father, was a keen-
witted and a libral young man. He became quite well-to-do and
popular enough to be appointed municipal captain of Biňan in
1783. The family adopted the surname “Mercado” to free the
younger generation from the prejudices that followed those with
the Chinese name.

Francisco Mercado and his wife, Bernarda Monicha, a Chinese

mestiza, were blessed with two children: Juan and Clemente.
Juan married Cirila Alejandra, also a Chinese mestiza. The
couple had 14 children, one of whom was Francisco, Rizal’s
father.
Francisco Mercado and two of his sisters moved to Kalamba.
Starting as a pioneer tenant farmer of the Dominican estate, he
was promoted to overseer with compensation, and was soon
sub-leasing his additional allotments. His wife, Teodora Alonso,
had a dry goods store. From these earnings, the fortunes of the
Rizal family were built.

The family of Teodora Alonso Realonda was more progressive

than the family of her husband. In those days when
professionals were scarce, the Alonso clan could be proud of a
number of lawyers, priests, engineers and government officials.

Rizal’s maternal great grand father, Manuel de Quintos, a

Chinese mestizo from Lingayen, Pangasinan, was a lawyer. His
wife, Regina Ochoa, was of Japanese ancestry. Their daughter
Brigida married Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo, and engineer.
Lorenzo’s mother belonged to a professionally prominent family
from Baliuag Bulacan. Lorenzo himself was wealthy and had a
considerable investment in two American companies. His wife
Brigida was well-educated and a good mathematician. The
couple had five children, including Teodora who was to become
Rizal’s mother.

Rizal’s Immediate Family

Rizal’s parents were more prosperous and more renowned than

their forebears. The industry of the couple raised them to the
privileged class, the principalia. The labors of Rizal’s father
yielded rather comfortable returns. Only a few families in Rizal’s
time could afford a big rectangular house of adobe and
hardwood as the Mercados did. Fewer still could take pride in
having a red-tiled roof and owning carriages and horses,
symbols of wealth and respectability among families in the town.
They enjoyed the esteem of the local Spanish officials too.

Rizal inherited his mother’s literary talent. It is said that one of

Rizal’s maternal aunts was a well-known poetess from Vigan.
Rizal’s father, Don Francisco Mercado, was born in Biňan,
Laguna. He studied Latin and philosophy at the College of San
Jose in Manila. Rizal described him as “a model of fathers”. He
was a man of “solid shoulders, strong constitution, rather tall
than short, of serious and reflective mien and with prominent
forehead and large dark eyes”.

Doňa Teodora Alonso, Rizal’s mother, was born in Meisik, Sta.

Cruz, Manila. She came from a distinguished and talented family.
Doňa Teodora was a remarkable woman. Rizal always spoke of
her with warmth and admiration: “My mother is not a woman of
ordinary culture. She knows literature and speaks Spanish
better than I do. She even corrected my poems and gave me
wise advice when I was studying rhetoric. She is a
mathematician and has read many books.”

Both parents greatly influenced Rizal and left their imprint on his
character. “From his father he inherited a profound sense of
dignity and self-respect, seriousness and self-possession; and
from his mother the temperament of a poet and the dreamer and
bravery for sacrifice”.

Don Francisco and Doňa Teodora were blessed with 11 children;

two boys and nine girls. They were, in the order of birth,
Saturnina, Paciano, Narcisa, Olimpia, Lucia, Maria, Jose,
Concepcion, Josefa, Trinidad and Soledad.

Rizal’s only brother, Paciano, was a full ten years older than he.
Like his father, he pursued a college education in Manila. He was
a second father to his younger brother Jose and gave hi wise
counsel and advice. He joined General Aguinaldo’s
revolutionary forces and rose to the rank of major general. When
peace was restored, he retired to his farm in Los Baňos and led
a quiet life until his death in 1930.

Three months before the execution of Rizal, Paciano was

arrested, threatened and tortured by the Spaniards in a futile
attempt to force him to sign a confession that his brother was
the leader of the 1896 rebellion. He suffered extreme physical
pain but nothing could make him turn against his younger
brother.

Early Manifestation of Innate Talents

Rizal learned his alphabet at the age of three. As a boy he took

avid interest in reading and literature because the family’s
extensive library provided him with incentives. He loved to read
books while his mother listened. In addition to reading, he also
manifested skills in sculpture, sketching, and painting. The
scenic beauty of Kalamba, his admiration of his mother, and
other people provided themes for his literary talent and artistry.
Recognizing her son’s creativity, Doňa Teodora encouraged him
to express his thoughts and sentiments in verse. He wrote his
first poem, Sa Aking mga Kabata (“To My Fellow Children”),
when he was only eight years old.

As a boy, Rizal developed a curious ability to recognize things

that were worthwhile. One of his early memories was affable his
mother had related to him one evening. She read “The Story of
the Moth” from a Spanish reader called El Amigo de los Niňos.
……………………………

Rizal’s sister Narcisa reflected on his solitude: “He was nearly

always quiet and very observant... His pastime notions and
habits were more characteristic of the mature than of the young.
He liked being alone; he did not play on ordinary toys. He loved
reading and listening to his elders discusses matters of
moment.” Rizal’s youthful observations left lasting impressions
that would shape his social and political ideas. He recalled his
boyhood experiences: …………………

Formal Search for Knowledge

Hometown Education
Soon Rizal’s passion for knowledge superseded his home
studies. At nine years, he was sent by his parents to study in
Biňan. He concentrated on his studies assiduously and he
excelled in all subjects. Besides taking formal lessons in Latin
and Spanish, Rizal developed his painting skills from a local
painter. Later, Rizal referred to himself as a fashionable” painter.

Ateneo Education: Refinement of Rizal’s Skills

On 10 June 1872, Rizal took the entrance examination at San

Juan de Letran College. Passing all qualifying tests in Christian
doctrine, reading, and arithmetic entitled him to admission at the
Ateneo where he studied from 1872 to 1877. He obtained a
Bachelor of Arts degree, with highest honors, that entitled him
to admission in any university.

At the start of the classes at the Ateneo, Rizal was quiet and,
being new, observed the activities of his class. He was a
consistent medalist and his grades in all subjects were
excellent.

At the Ateneo, he discovered the wisdom of books and its

influences on his search for knowledge. He pursued history,
philosophy, science and the imaginative world of poetry. At 16
after five years of dedicated study, he stepped out of the college
halls into a world of intrigue and challenge that was to give him
boundless opportunity to help he oppressed Filipinos. Rizal
gradually gained proficiency both in the art of rhetoric and in the
art of philosophical independent thinking. Ateneo had taught
him that the mind would achieve its purpose as long as one
sought truth in a spirit of love and understanding of one’s
fellowmen.

Rizal’s formal lessons at the Ateneo refined his artistic

sensibility, resulting in further development of his skills in
writing and in sculpture. In the plastic arts, two pieces of
beauty………………………………………. His literary pieces at this
stage of his life were mostly poems inspired by historical
events.
He expressed his ideals on the value of education in later poems
while a student of the Ateneo. One poem, Por la Educacion
Recibe Lustre la Patria (Through Education the Country
Receives Light”) expressed the potential benefits that can be
derived from educating the citizenry. He stressed that
responsible education instills in the youth noble ideas and
sublime virtues. Learning infuses truth and discipline brings
peace, glory and tranquility to the nation. In another poem,
Alianza Intima Entre La Religion y la Buena Educacion (Intimate
Alliance Between Religion and Good Education), Rizal
elucidated the concept that faith and belief in truth and love of
God are discovered in dedicated study and the cultivation of the
human mind.

The academic excellence of Rizal and his literary prowess

qualified him for membership in two exclusive societies at the
Ateneo: the Academy of Spanish Literature and the Academy of
Natural Science. He also joined the Marian Congregation
(Sodality of Our Lady) and the Apostleship of Prayer. He later
became the secretary of the Marian Congregation and the
prefect of the Academy of Spanish Literature.

At the University of Santo Tomas: A Crucial Decision

After graduating from the Ateneo, he enrolled in courses in

philosophy and letters at the University of Santo Tomas. He also
took up surveying and agriculture at the Ateneo. Before he was
21 years old, he completed the surveyor and expert assessor’s
course with a grade of “excellent.”

He finally decided to take up medicine at the University of Santo

Tomas because he wanted to treat the failing eyesight of his
mother. The academic freedom that he had enjoyed at the
Ateneo was dampened by prejudicial limitations at the
University. His general average was creditable but he found the
classroom inadequate for his academic curiosity.

Paciano advised him to go to Europe to broaden his perspective

and to seek outlets for his talents. Prodded by his growing
sense of nationalism, Rizal had also thought of going to Europe
to seek knowledge of western wisdom and opportunity. They
seem to have made a secret agreement on what Rizal was to
accomplish abroad with the moral and financial support of
Paciano. In his first letter to his brother, Paciano implied
references to their previous understanding that besides
continuing his studies, Jose had an important mission—
something he (Jose) was most interested in and to which
Paciano was also committed—to find ways by which he (Jose)
could help the Filipino cause.

Racial Discrimination Inspired a Lifetime Research

His greatest resentment during his student days that motivated

years of research and hard work was the pervading racial
discrimination. As a boy he knew he was looked down upon
simply because he was native, an indio. While at the Ateneo, he
observed and analyzed the source of such discrimination. The
Jesuit teachers treated the students equally. Recognition was
achieved through skill. But outside the classroom, the Spanish
boys were arrogant and insolent towards their brown
classmates. At the times the Filipino boys were provoked into
fights. Rizal felt that such an attitude was an imitation of the
harshness and hubris of their elders—the “miserable indio”
attitude all over again.

In spite of his resentment Rizal did not seek to get even through
violence, although at times he was caught in fistfights over
racial issues. He sought equality through the mastery of mental
skills. Rizal was second to no European and to no other student
at the Ateneo. He proved that despite the use of Spanish, the
language of the white boys, as a medium of instruction, a brown
boy could equal them and still emerge the winner under the
same circumstances.

While at the University of Santo Tomas he showed his literary

prowess. He joined a literary contest among mestizos and
Filipinos sponsored by the Liceo Artistico Literario de Manila in
1879. He submitted his poem A La Juventud Filipina (“To the
Filipino Youth”) and won the first prize, a feathershaped silver
pen decorated with gold ribbon. The following year the Liceo
sponsored another competition celebrating the centenary of the
birth of Miguel de Cervantes, the national poet of Spain. Again
he won the first place for his play El Consejo de los Dioses
(“The Council of the Gods”).

These two prize winning works proved that an indio could right
as well as a Spaniard, or even better. A La Juventud Filipina was
an open avowal of nationalism that evoked ideas of freedom and
independence for one nation and one people. El Consejo de los
Dioses presented the discussion among the Olympian gods and
goddesses as who the great poet was—Homer, Virgil, or
Cervantes. Jupiter was the final judge who measured the values
of each poet’s masterpiece. His evaluation showed that all three
works were of equal value. Critics and readers praised the work
lavishly until they discovered that its author was an indio. They
suddenly turned their attention and compliments to the second
place winner, a Spaniard by birth. Rizal was indignant at this
absurd behavior which was a clear evidence of the irrational
racial prejudice at the time.

Rizal derived a personal satisfaction from his education and he

felt proud that he could prove himself equal, if not superior, in
intellectual acumen to the Spaniards. His solemn determination
to use his intelligence to save his people from quagmire of
ignorance made him believe that educating the masses was the
answer to the worsening misery of his countrymen. The uphill
struggle would be long and tedious but he knew that the only
way to emancipate his people was through education.

The oppressive racial discrimination at the University of Santo

Tomas gave Rizal an idea for his one-act play Junto al Pasig. He
had just turned 19 when he wrote it for the Academia de
Literatura Castellana of the Ateneo de Municipal. He satirized the
priest in the person of a devil who sought adoration, and he
described Spain as impious and pictured her as the cause of the
unhappiness of his once rich and happy country. When the play
was staged, the Jesuits simply laughed at the clever satire, but
some friars took it as a grave insult.
Education in Europe: Professional Skills Developed

Rizal left for Europe aboard the ss ”Salvadora” on 3 May 1882

and arrived at Barcelona by the middle of June.

After a few months he moved to Madrid because medical

education was reportedly cheaper there. He followed a
systematic and well organized schedule of study because he
wanted to learn so much within a short time. He enrolled at the
Central University of Madrid for the licentiate in medicine. To
further acquire wisdom and culture, he enrolled in philosophy
and letters. To enhance his artistic talents, he also took up
lessons in painting and sculpture at the Academia de Bellas
Artes de San Fernando, as well as lessons in French and
German at the Ateneo de Madrid. During his free hours, he
attended lectures and frequented the theater.

Although time was limited to the numerous studies of Rizal, he

acquired proficiency in various fields of learning, in two years.
By 21 June 1884, his assiduous devotion to his studies yielded
its first fruit. He completed the course for the licentiate in
medicine with satisfactory grades. The next year he proceeded
into a doctorate in medicine but he did not submit his thesis.
The degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on him
posthumously in 1961 during the centenary of his birth.

In 1885 he received his licentiate in philosophy and letters which

entitled him to a university professorship.

He went to Paris for advanced studies in ophthalmology.

Together with other foreigners, he worked as an assistant in the
clinic of Dr. Louis de Weker, a leading French ophthalmologist.
After four months of concentrated study he learned the medical
techniques of an eye operation.

His limited allowance and the desire to learn more about eye
ailments prompted him to go to Germany where the cost of
living was cheaper. He practiced in a hospital of Heidelberg
under the supervision of the hospital director himself, Dr. Otto
Becker, a renowned German doctor. Rizal proceeded to Berlin
where he worked and as an assistant in the clinics of Dr.
Schultzer and Dr. Xavier Galezowski, eminent German
ophthalmologists.

Rizal’s observation in Europe opened his minds to the

imperative needs of his country and the ways that meet these
needs.

The Resolute Propagandist

New Direction Towards Accomplishing His Mission

Apart from his personal endeavors, Rizal proposed a book

writing project to the Filipino members of the Circulo Hispano-
Filipino. The books would deal on various aspects of Philippine
life. When details were discussed at a meeting, most of the
members wanted to write about the characters and activities of
Filipino women and were scarcely interested in Rizal’s true
purpose for he proposed project. Disgusted, Rizal decided to
write the books by himself.

As a man of ideals obsessed with freedom and liberty for the

Filipino people, he felt compassion for the helpless victims of
tyranny. He scorned those who would not help their less
fortunate countrymen. But Rizal did not lose hope. He
envisioned hat the Filipinos would one day realize the
significance of human dignity and that they would take positive
action conditioned to the ideal of nationhood and independence.

Using his foremost talent he started writing one of his

masterpieces, Noli Me Tangere. His desire for more mature
contacts and his search for enlightenment to complete his book
led him to join the Brotherhood of Masons and seek the
friendship of eminent scholars. Among his colleagues were
republican stalwarts, Spanish national leaders and statesmen,
sedate and broad-minded men of wisdom. Their liberal ideas
showed him how much change was needed in the Philippines.

Despite his many scholarly activities, he sought time to finish

the first half of the Noli in Madrid. He continued writing in Paris
where the immortal declaration of the rights of man had been
passed a century before. He finished his book in Germany were
scientific research and philosophy were free from Church and
State control.

Running short of funds, he found the cheapest book printer, the

Berliner Buchdruckerei-Actien-Gesselschaft, Setzerinnen-Schule
de Lette Vereins in Berlin to print the book. He was charged
P300.00 for 2,000 copies. His friend, Maximo Viola offered to
lend him the amount and the book was finally released in March
1887.

Rizal planned to visit other European countries to study the

people’s way of life, and adopt ideas and programs that would
benefit his countrymen. Before he went to Paris, he studied
French well enough to speak and write French with the same
facility and ease that he had with Spanish. For further mastery of
the language, he enrolled in the class of a well-known teacher in
Paris, Madame Lucille Cerdolle, the French teacher of the
imperial family. He mastered the language so well that France
was a free country and that the people would recognize the
merits of the book.

He studied Hebrew to enable him to interpret the Bible in its

original context and be better prepared to any controversial
religious issue that Noli Me Tangere might arouse. In fact, he
translated some passages from the Bible that he used in the
Noli.

While an assistant at Dr. Becker’s clinic, Rizal could speak only

smattering of German but in three months of diligent study and
practice, he spoke the language with ease. Besides German, he
also studied English by means of the German grammar and
likewise studied Italian by means of the English grammar.

His knowledge of German enabled him to understand the works

of German writers on the Philippines and to associate with
German scholars. Rizal’s sojourn in Germany gave him the
opportunity to meet Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt who became his
most cherished friend. They corresponded and exchanged
opinions on political, racial and social issues. Blumentritt
guided Rizal in his research on the Philippines at European
libraries.

Early in 1887, Rizal met Dr. Feodor Jagor whose works has
inspired him when he was still a student at the Ateneo. Dr Jagor
invited him to attend a meeting in Berlin of the Geogaphic
Society, where he was introduced to Dr. Rudolph Virchow, a
famous scientist and a statesman of intense democratic ideals.
Rizal became his favorite colleague because of his earnest
interest in the history of the Philippines. Dr. Virchow sponsored
Rizal’s membership to the Berllin Anthropological Society. As a
member, Rizal was asked by the society to deliver a lecture on
the Tagalog people and culture, for which he was warmly
applauded.

In Dresden, he met Dr. A B Meyer, director of the Royal Saxony

Ethnographical Institute. Years before Rizal’s departure for
Europe, Dr. Meyer had visited the Philippines to make a study of
the Filipino people. He had written a book about the Igorots, a
copy of which he gave to Rizal. Rizal later became a member of
the Geographical and Ethnological Society of Berlin, an
organization composed of scholars of different nationalities.
Membership was granted to an applicant only after presentation
Tagalog Art of Versification”) written in German. He also wrote
an article, “Ars Poetica Tagala” published in the Zeitschrift fur
Ethnologie (Journal for Ethnology). Dr. Blumentritt sent him a
copy of the journal when Rizal was back in Kalamba.

After reading accounts about the Philippines in German books,

Rizal was gratified to learn that foreigners who made scientific
studies about the Philippines had a higher regard for the
Filipinos than most of the Spanish writers whose conclusions
were based on unjust prejudices. He wanted his educated
countrymen to know that foreigners were taking avid interest in
their country’s way of life.

He studied and translated Blumentritt’s Ethnography of the

Island of Mindanao. He planned to use some of its important
data in a geography book for schools that he planned to publish.
Using Blumentritt’s map, he corrected the 1852 map of
Mindanao which he brought with him to Europe. After reading
Blumentritt’s book, he planned to study the Tirurays for a better
understanding of the primitive peoples of his country. To
compare the primitive peoples of other lands of the Philippines,
he studied the ethnographical works of Gaerlan Waits and Ratzel
and Wilkins and the historical publications of Lipper and
Helwald. He translated Waitz’s books, Anthropology of Primitive
Peoples and General Ethnography. After translating one third of
the book he left Europe for the Philippines. He drew inspiration
from these scientific studies and was consoled to know that his
people were not of the anthropoid race as the Spaniards had
asserted.

Besides attending to patients in the clinic of Dr. Becker,

studying several languages, and attending conferences and
meetings of the scientific organizations he had joined, he
pursued his course in practical ethnology and the study of race
differences. He studied German, Spanish and French peasant
life.

In his study of the ethnography of a nation, Rizal always made

his preliminary observations in the towns or smallest villages
were the customs and traditions of the people were simple,
natural an unadulterated by the artificial culture of the cities. The
peasantry, he thought, preserved national and race peculiarities
longer than other social classes. Since most of his countrymen
were peasants, he believed he ought to compare them only with
the peasants of Europe.

Rizal stayed for weeks in some secluded village where he

observed the people’s way of life. His regular walks in German
cities, towns and villages with the use of a pedometer and a
compass and his study of the configuration of the places once
aroused the government’s suspicion that he was a French spy.
He was almost deported for this charge but he explained o the
authorities that his actions were purely educational.

To complete his ideas and observations on racial differences

and the alleged superiority of the white man, he researched in
psychology while he was at Leipzig. He concentrated his studies
on the comparison of race characteristics as influenced by
environment, history and language. His research convinced him
more than ever that “we are all human and we can improve
ourselves through education and culture as other people did
which only some centuries ago were still savages.” Our race has
its faults and virtues by the defects and virtues of any people are
not mere peculiarities of a race but are inherited qualities that
have become affected by climate and history.

His studies took him to historical and educational centers like

museums, hospitals, aquariums, botanical and zoological
gardens, historical exhibits and libraries. He also observed
factories and shops where he learned more and more about
conditions of the working man and the modern methods of
production which he could adopt in the Philippines.

His desire to share with his countrymen the ideals of freedom

and patriotism in Schiller’s William Tell encouraged him to
translate this work to Tagalog. This is an intensely stirring
human drama of the Swiss farmers’ fight against the tyranny of
their Austrian governors. The idea he expressed in his El Amor
Patrio was similar to that of Schiller’s: “Join your dearest
Fatherland, hold it fast with all your hearts; here are the deep
roots of your strength.”

Six-Month Sojourn in the Philippines

After publishing the Noli in March 1887, Rizal decided to come

home, with some misgivings on the reaction to his plans and
ideas. He arrived in Manila on 5 August 1887. A warm and
cordial reception awaited him in Kalamba. He was besieged with
well-meaning admonitions and innumerable questions by his
family, friends, and acquaintances. But even before he settled
down he wrote to Dr. Blumentritt that he felt the pressures from
the friars were heavy and that he would soon leave the
Philippines again. He felt the pressure of the groups that he had
antagonized in his novel. Meanwhile, he opened a medical clinic,
successfully operated on his mother’s eyes and established a
gymnasium.
By this time, the Noli had already aroused a great deal of
discussion, speculation, and apprehension. Despite the
protection of the liberal-minded Governor Emilio Terrero, Rizal’s
activities had to be limited because he received daily threats
from his oppositors. He was not allowed by his parents to dine
in other houses. A whispering smear campaign was launched by
both the Spaniards and some of his compatriots. They wanted to
break down his morale and drive him out of his country. In the
wake of all these insecurity, Governor Terrero had to assign
Jose Taviel de Andrade, a lieutenant of the guardia civil, as
Rizal’s personal escort.

Meanwhile, the special committee that reviewed the Noli

recommended “the absolute prohibition of the importation,
reproduction and circulation of this pernicious book.” The
committee found the book “heretical, impious, and scandalous
in its religious aspect, and unpatriotic and subversive to public
order.” It felt that the book would be harmful to these islands.

As the controversy on his novel raged, Rizal got involved in the

Kalamba agrarian controversy. The bold expose Rizal made
infuriated the friars and the town was again astir over land
ownership disputes. Security for the Rizal family became a
problem and Rizal was advised to leave the country. He secretly
departed on 3 February 1888 after a six-month stay. He traveled
through Hong Kong, Japan and the United States, always
studying and observing. He deplored the racial discrimination
against the Negroes in the United States and noted the absence
of true civil liberty.

Rizal Became an Active Propagandist

Free from Spanish prosecution Rizal continued his fight to free

his countrymen from ignorance and exploitation. He wanted to
vindicate his race from the insults levied by prejudice Spanish
writers; he annotated Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas written by
Antonio de Morga, which was an objective presentation of the
16th century Philippine culture and civilization. Rizal showed that
the past of the Philippines revealed that even before the coming
of the Spaniards the Filipinos already had a developed culture.
Rizal believed that Spanish government would not ban a
historical account of events in the Philippines written by a
responsible Spaniards.

By the time the annotated Sucesos got published in 1890, the

propaganda movement’s activities were in full swing. Rizal
wanted the book to be read by members of the Filipino
intelligentsia to inspire them into working for reforms.

They could draw materials from it to refute prejudiced comments

on the Filipinos. He also hoped that the book would cause a
psychological effect to bring back their pride in their ancestors,
a necessary component n the formation of national
consciousness.

While he was annotating Sucesos, he was also writing El

Filibusterismo. Like a fearless knight of freedom he wielded his
pen as he traveled through Europe. He wrote “The Philippines
Within a Century” and “The Indolence of the Filipino People” to
answer criticisms against the Filipinos and their culture. In
several articles and numerous letters to his friends he staunchly
defended the rights of his people. At the same time he admitted
their faults as in his “Letter to the Women of Malolos,” and
emphasized the imperative need to enlighten his people.

He finally completed the Fili manuscript in July 1891 while he

was in Brussels. But penniless and suffering from privations, he
could not publish the book until financial assistance came from
Valentine Ventura. Members of his family could not extend
financial help to him because they were among those
persecuted by the government as a result of the Kalamba
agrarian unrest of 1888. Besides, the government imposed
stringent rules on male censorship to prevent financial aid from
reaching the propagandists through the mails. He had to shorten
the book to much his dwindling financial resources. The Fili
finally came out in September of the same year.
El Filibusterismo is a strong indictment of Spanish colonialism
and of native supporter and defenders of the system. It
portrayed a society on the verge of revolution.

As the news and stories of oppression in the Philippines spread,

Rizal hastened to reassure his fellow reformists in a letter dated
2 April 1889, that such persecution would only serve to stir more
discontent among the people and make them more determined
to ask for reforms. Rizal knew that the Filipino’s fight for their
right had commenced and there was no turning back. He
concluded his letter with these words: “The fight has begun; he
who wavers shall fall. Let us now show the world and our
enemies that we are not afraid of the friars’ threats.”

He eventually learned about the rustication of Paciano and his

brothers-in law to Mindoro and the abandonment of the family
estate. On 29 March 1891 he wrote to Dr. Blumentritt about the
persecution of his family because of his activities as a
propagandist. His heart ached over their misfortune but his
spirit was not discouraged. He was not sorry that he had stared
the propaganda campaign and if he were to be born again: “I
would do first what I have done…it was the duty of every man,
and God might ask me why I had not fought evil and injustice
when I saw them.”

He wanted to go home and seek vindication but his friend and

family advised him against it. After the Fili was published his
desire to go home grew much stronger. Undecided where to
settle in Hong Kong or go back to the Philippines, he wrote
Blumentritt that his country and family needed him and that he
must join them. He set sail for Hong Kong and hardly had he
settled in that city when his father, brother and a brother-in-law
arrived as fugitives from the Spaniards in the Philippines.
Shortly after, he wrote Dr. Blumentritt that his mother, and his
sisters, Lucia, Josefa and Trinidad, had arrived.

Reunited with his family, he opened a clinic, practiced medicine

and started to write another book, while Paciano translated the
Noli into Tagalog. His family objected to his going home but his
fellow propagandists kept writing to him to help them. They
offered their sympathies for what happened in Kalamba and
asked him to resume leadership of a progressive movement in
Spain. Antonio Luna’s letter of January 1892 and those of
Edilberto Evangeleista in March and April 1892 encouraged him
to fight actively for justice and, eventually, independence.

Meantime the appointment of a new governor general in the

Philippine encouraged Rizal to write a letter to the new governor
on 23 December 1891 offering his services “in helping heal the
open wounds of recent injustices,” to which he got no reply.

Constantly preoccupied of the welfare of his countrymen and

how he could muster cooperation and understanding among
them, he planned La Liga Filipina and a Filipino community in
Borneo while still in Hong Kong. He wrote Dr. Blumentritt that “if
it is not possible for me to give my country liberty, I should like
to give it at least to these noble countrymen of mine in other
lands. That is why, I am thinking of immigrating t Borneo.”

He negotiated with the representatives of the North Borneo

Company for permission to establish a Filipino colony in
Borneo. He was granted permission by the British governor to
found a settlement on a 190,000-acre property in North Borneo.
His choice of location must have been motivated by the
proximity of the territory to the Philippines and the similarity of
the climate and physical conditions of the land to the
Philippines.

When he drafted the plan, he presumed that the Filipino

settlement would be a free and independent entity entering into
agreement with the British Government on the basis of equality.
The agreement guaranteed the liberty of Filipino settlers, the
security of their lands, the right to retain their citizenship, and
the protection of their rights. Rizal envisioned a colony complete
with cities, towns, districts, schools, churches, and a
governmental structure, determined by the people’s own
customs and laws. The colony was to be under the protectorate
of the North Borneo Development Company, following the same
conditions as those given in the treaty with the local Bornean
rulers.
However, the plan was disapproved by Governor Eulogio
Despujol because the Philippines was short of manpower, and
he considered it improper and impractical for the native to
cultivate other lands while the Philippines itself was still
underdeveloped.

Rizal Comes Home

The compulsion to come home took the better of Rizal. He knew

he was taking a big risk so he wrote two letters both dated 20
June 1892 addressed to his parents and to is people, the
contents to b disclosed posthumously. He entrusted the two
letters to a close friend, Dr. Lorenzo Periera Marquez of Macau.
Against he wises of his family, he took the risk and came home.
In his letter to his parents he stated that he wanted to bring his
wok to a climax and he implied that he was ready to die for duty
and conviction.

In his letter “To the Filipinos” he wrote that the final decision he
made was very risky but he had to come home partly because “I
also want to show those who deny our patriotism that we know
how to die doing our duty and for our convictions. What does
death matter if one dies for what one loves…I shall die blessing
her and wishing for her the dawn of her redemption.”

Together with her sister Lucia, he arrived on the Philippines on

Sunday, 26 June 1892. The following day his friends and
admirers took him for a visit to Malolos, San Fernando, Tarlac
and Bacolor, where he exhorted his countrymen to join La Liga
Filipina. The favorable reaction to his efforts encouraged him to
organize the league on 3 July 1892.

Within eleven days after his arrival, the Governor General

received him at least five times and during their meetings he
was able to obtain pardon for his father and family.

Rizal is Arrested and Deported to Dapitan

On 6 July Rizal was summoned to Malacaňang Palace. He was
confronted with the charge of having brought with him from
Hong Kong leaflets entitled Pobres Frailes (“Poor Friars”). This
article is a satire by “P Jacinto” against the rich Dominican friars
who had violated their vow of poverty.

In spite of his protestations of innocence, he was arrested and

brought to the Royal Fortress of Santiago for detention. On 14
July he was notified that he would be exiled to Dapitan in
Mindanao the evening of the same day. He was being deported
for having written and smuggled into the country leaflets which
mocked the friars and maligned the Pope. He was summarily
accused of dedicating his second novel, El Filibusterismo, to the
memory of the three priests who had been proven traitors to the
nation but whom he extolled as martyrs. He was also accused of
advocating separation from Spain as the only means of
salvation for the Philippines. The decree of deportation further
charged Rizal with seeking to “de-catholicize, which is
equivalent to denationalize this Philippine land which will always
be Spanish and as such, always Catholic. Likewise the decree
declared that the purpose of his works and writings was
“nothing else but to uproot from loyal Filipino breasts the
treasure of our Holy Catholic Faith, the unbreakable keystone of
national unity of this land.”

Thus was Rizal accused, judge and condemned without trial.

The Spanish administration had again demonstrated its
conspiracy to bring about Rizal’s downfall. After an eight day
confinement in fort Santiago h was surreptitiously escorted
under heavy guard to the steamship Cebu for deportation to
Dapitan in Mindanao.

The Nationalist in Exile

Practical Nationalism in Dapitan

While in Dapitan, Rizal demonstrated how much a citizen could

do to help his community. He arrived on the night of 17 July
1892 and found lonely and desolated town. Having lived all his
life in a big town and in cosmopolitan areas now he had to make
adjustments before he finally settled down to useful, quiet
activity.

Son he was practicing his profession as a doctor, farmer,

teacher, businessman, community development leader,
engineer, and scientist. He also found time to study the Malayan
language and several Philippine dialects. He continued his
artistic pursuits in sculpture, painting, sketching, and writing
poetry. Eventually he won the respect and admiration not only of
the townspeople but also of the military governor.

Dapitan rests between a beautiful bay and a hill. It has a good

harbor, vast fertile virgin lands, brooks, and abundant flora and
fauna. It was then a swampy town with unplanned streets, no
potable water and lighting system, and no provisions for
medical services. The people still practiced primitive agricultural
methods, the fishing industry was underdeveloped, and the
trade was controlled by a few Chinese inhabitants.

Captain Ricardo Carnicero, the politico military governor, gave

Rizal a free rein with his ingenuity to help improve the
community and allowed him all the liberties except leaving the
place. After weeks of adjustment, Rizal organized a busy
systematic schedule, leaving in peaceful quietude. He
purchased a parcel of land near the town plaza and 16 hectares
of agricultural land in Talisay where he built a house, a school
and a clinic. His property totaled 70 hectares where, with the
help of his pupils, he planted coconuts, sugar cane, corn, coffee,
cacao, and fruit trees of different varieties.

He woke up early in the morning at five. He would visit his

plants, feed his chickens, and have breakfast at half past seven,
after which he would attend to his patients. He would then board
his baroto (banca) to attend his patients in town. He would hold
his two-hour academic sessions with his pupils. In the afternoon
and the rest of the hours before sunset, he would devote his
time in farming. Retiring late at night, he would spend the rest of
the day reading and studying. He continued his study and
analysis of the Tagalog dialect to simplify its alphabet in order to
make its writing and pronunciation as easy as possible. He had
planned to write a simplified Tagalog grammar which he hoped
would be adopted by the people as the basis of a national
tongue.

While he charged his wealthy patients fees proportionate to their

capacity to pay, he rendered free medical services to the poor.
Many of his patients in Talisay and Dapitan were too poor to pay
and at times he provided them with medicine and drugs which
he himself concocted from his knowledge of the curative value
of local medicinal plants. His wealthier patients came from other
parts of Mindanao, from Laguna, Cebu, Panay, Negros, and even
from far away Hong Kong. Mr. George Taufer of Hong Kong used
his savings to come for treatment by the renowned
ophthalmologists. He was accompanied by his adopted
daughter, Josephine Bracken. Wealthy patients whose eyesight
he was able to restore were only too glad to pay amounts
ranging from P500.00 to P3,000.00. He constructed small houses
which he called casitas de salud were his patients and their
families stayed during the treatment period. Shortly before he
left Dapitan, he already had plans of establishing a hospital.

He applied some of his modern educational ideas to a group of

16 selected boys whom he accommodated in a house near his
own. He gave the boys vocational and academic training to
integrate their education toward home and community
development. Hr made their learning functional, relating pupils’
activities to the actual life situations in Dapitan and Talisay. Hr
thought the boys to earn their living from their labor and skill. He
charged no tuition fees, but the boys help him in his clinic and
worked in his farm where they were taught better methods of
agriculture and stock raising. A part of their training was to help
Rizal carry out his community development projects, thereby
actively participating in constructive community life.

Formal classes were held daily from 2 to 4 o’clock in the

afternoon. The pupils were taught reading, writing, arithmetic,
geometry, languages (Spanish and English), geography, history,
and good conduct. On one day the lessons were conducted in
English, the next day in Spanish. As in the Ateneo, the brightest
pupils were called “emperor” and he sat at the head of the
bench; the poorest occupied the foot of the bench. The lessons
were supplemented with field trips to the mountains, caves, and
sea shore which gave the pupils a working knowledge of the
flora and fauna of Zamboanga. Believing in the dictum that a
sound body makes a sound mind, Rizal also taught his boys
boxing, swinging on parallel bars and rings, swimming,
wrestling, and arnis, a kind of native fencing.

With his project to improve and beautify Dapitan, he made a big

relief map of Mindanao in the main plaza. The map which still
exists serves several purposes. It was used by Rizal as a
motivating device in the teaching of geography to his pupils.
With the aid of the map, he discussed the towns people and
visitors and position of Dapitan and its relation to the rest of
Mindanao.

Applying his knowledge as a land surveyor (perito agrimensor),

he planned new street layouts and constructed them through the
cooperative labor of the people. With a limited knowledge of
engineering, he conceived the idea of providing the town with a
water system which was completed in 1895 through the help of
his pupils and the townspeople. A stream from the mountain
heights several kilometers away supplied the water. A dam and
aqueduct pipes and foundations were built out of discarded roof
tiles, bricks, gin bottles and stones. The mortar they used was
made out of burned sea shells and corals.

A decade later, H F Cameron, distinguished American engineer,

commented about the waterworks: “when one considers that Dr.
Rizal had no dynamite with which to blast the hard rocks, and no
resources except his own ingenuity, one cannot help but render
homage to a man who under the adverse circumstances had the
temerity and perseverance to construct the system.”

Ever conscious of public welfare, Rizal, with the labor of the

town residents, also drained the marshes to minimize the
dangers of malaria. He likewise set about providing the town
with a lighting system which consisted of coconut oil lamps
placed in dark streets.
Recalling what he learned in Belgium and Baden, Germany, he
invented a wooden machine for making bricks. He wrote Dr.
Blumemtritt about this feat and asked fro additional information
on the better method so that he would not waste too much heat
in the baking process. He proposed to establish a manufacturing
plant or brick factory that would produce at least 6,000 bricks a
day. He also introduced a hemp stripping machine to improve
the abaca industry thus increasing the output of the abaca
planters.

In spite of the abundance of fish in the sea, the people of

Dapitan and the surrounding areas did not have enough fish
because the fishermen did not know how to make and use
fishing nets. In a letter to his brother-in-law Manuel Hidalgo on
19 January 1893, Rizal requested him to buy a big net for troll
fishing and to send him two good Kalamba fishermen who could
teach the Dapitan people better fishing methods. The nets came
but the fishermen could not. Rizal trained the local fishermen in
the use of the new fishing gear and then taught them net
weaving.

Rizal observed that the Filipinos in Dapitan did not engage in

business. Setting an example of self-help to curb Chinese
control of domestic trade, he and a business partner, Ramon
Carreon, ventured into the hemp and copra trade and into the
fishing business. Trade was lucrative and he encouraged his
eldest sister Saturnina de Hidalgo, her husband, and other
relatives to go to Mindanao and engage in retail business. He
promoted the establishment of a Dapitan farmers cooperative
association, managed by the people themselves, to improve
farm products, promote cooperative marketing, and extend
protection to its members.

These work experiences in Dapitan enhanced Rizal’s concept of

practical nationalism. H was more than ever fully convinced that
self improvement and community improvement were an impetus
to national governance, respect and integrity.

Rizal’s Reaction to the Katipunan

On the eve of 21 June 1896, Dr. Pio Valenzuela visited Rizal in
Dapitan to inform him about the founding of the Katipunan. On 7
July 1892 which aimed at the separation of the Philippines from
Spain by means of a revolution. Dr. Valenzuela stressed that he
was sent to Dapitan to obtain Rizal’s approval of the resolutions
passed in a general assembly held in Pasig on 1 May which
included the objectives of the revolutionary association. Rizal
considered the resolutions just and patriotic but when
Valenzuela informed hi that the revolution might break out
prematurely even without sufficient arms, Rizal vigorously
objected, stating that this would be veritable suicide. Citing
Cuba as an example, he reminded that despite the fact that
Cubans could count on the help and protection of the United
States, the first and second attempts to overthrow Spain had
been tragic and costly and that the Cubans were still fighting for
their freedom.

Rizal stressed that the principal organizes should do everything

to prevent the “premature flow of blood. When the generals do
not command, the soldiers stay still.” To this reminder
Valenzuela countered: “The case of the Katipunan is different; if
the generals do not give orders, the soldiers will order the
others. If the Katipunan is discovered, the revolution will
inevitably break out.”

Rizal understood the sentiments of his oppressed people. In fact

he was aware of this possibility when Spain refused to grant the
reforms they were fighting for. Torn between his conviction and
his suffering people, he instructed Valenzuela to get the support
of the rich and the influential sectors of Manila for stronger
unity. However, if they failed to do this they should make sure
that this group remained neutral in case the revolution broke
out. He also suggested that Antonio Luna be appointed t direct
their military maneuvers.

He knew that his countrymen stood a slim chance of winning but

he could not blame them for their impatience and impulsiveness.
Before the two men ended their conference, according to
Valenzuela, Rizal said with a tinge of sadness: “To die and
conquer is pleasant but to die and be conquered is painful.”
He informed Valenzuela of his pending application as volunteer
surgeon in the Spanish army fighting the Cuban revolution. The
latter objected to this plan because Weyler who was the general
in chief of the Spanish troops in Cuba might shoot him. Rizal
assured Valenzuela that this would not happen and he revealed
his reason for wanting to go to Cuba. He said that once in Cuba
he could study the war in practical way: mix with Cuban soldiers
so he could find solutions to the Philippine situation.

End of Rizal’s Exile

In spite of the liberties extended to him by the Spanish

government within the confines of Dapitan, Rizal was not
content because he was not a free man. Twice he wrote
Governor General Ramon Blanco: the first letter n 1894 sought
his pardon, and the second in 1895 asked for his release and a
review of his case. If these were not possible, he volunteered to
serve as a surgeon in the Spanish army fighting the Cuban
revolution.

On 30 July 1896 the long awaited answer of the Governor to his

request finally arrived. His request to go to Cuba was approved.
The next day, after a sedate four-year exile, h left for Manila on
board the steamer “Espaňa.” Upon arrival in Manila Bay he
learned that the boat for Spain had left the day before, so h was
transferred to the Spanish cruiser “Castilla” and held
incommunicado except to his family, until about a month later
when he boarded a Spanish warship that set sail for Spain. Rizal
was not surprised when he learned through the newspapers
about the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution.

His Last Trip Home

On 3 September 1896; Rizal left for Barcelona on board the “Isla

de Panay.” On the last day of the same month as the ship was
nearing Malta Island, the captain of the ship notified him that he
was under arrest and was to be confined to his cabin. He had
heard rumors on board the ship that he was being blamed for
the outbreak of the revolution in the Philippines. The ship
docked at Barcelona harbor on the early afternoon of 6 October
1896 and after a few hours’ stay at cell no.11 at Montjuich Castle,
he was brought to the ss “Colon” bound for Manila which was
carrying soldiers to fight the Filipino revolutionists.

All through the trip, Rizal jotted down his thoughts and kept a
record of his activities. Before his diary was confiscated, he
wrote an accurate prognosis:

I think that God is doing me good by allowing me to return to the

Philippines in order to disprove so many charges against me.
Either they will give me justice and acknowledge my innocence
and then I shall have all my rights restored, or they will condemn
me to death and then I shall have expiated my supposed crime
in the eyes of society. She will forgive me later without any
doubt, I shall be given justice, and become one martyr more.

On 3 November 1896, the ss “Colon” reached Manila and Rizal

was brought directly to Fort Santiago under heavy guard.

The Trial and Execution

On the early morning of 29 December 1896, Rizal was formally

notified of the court’s verdict: DEATH. He was to be shot at
sunrise of the next day. The news of the verdict spread like
wildfire. Tension gripped Manila as the Spaniards feared that the
rebels would enter the city and liberate Rizal.

The verdict had been reached after an unprecedented one day

trial held the day after Christmas by a military court composed
of six officers and presided over by Colonel Jose Tagores
Arjona. The Auxiliary Advocate General himself, Enrique de
Alcocer, was prosecutor. Rizal was condemned for “founding
illegal associations and of promoting and inducing rebellion, the
first, being the necessary means to the second.” Rizal was
defended by Lieutenant Luis Taviel de Andrade, brother of his
body guard in Kalamba in 1887-1888.

Preliminary Investigation
“Proofs” of Rizal’s guilt had been gathered by Captain Francisco
de Olive and the preliminary investigation was conducted by a
special judge, Colonel Rafael Dominguez.

On 20 November, the farcical preliminary investigation began,

Rizal was made to classify persons as “friendly,” “not
suspicious,” or “hostile” from a list of names. Then he was
subjected to a continuous two-day inquisitorial interrogation
without benefit of counsel. He was not even allowed to confront
those who testified against him. In two short days, Rizal was
forced to make rapid identification from a “line-up” of some 27
characters whose faces he did not see and whose voices he
could not hear but whose words would be utilized to convict
him.

He was questioned on several times, among them his

participation in various political activities, his association with
certain people, and his knowledge of certain circumstances. The
investigators had to trump up evidence from Rizal’s
correspondence, written six to eight years prior to the
organization of La Liga Filipina which the Spaniards alleged to
be the cause of the revolution, from his poems To Talisay and
Kundiman, from the speeches of Katipuneros that ended with:
“Long Live the Philippines! Long live Liberty! Long Live Dr.
Rizal!”

They questiond him on his membership in the Masonic lodges,

on Dr Valenzuela’s visit to Dapitan, on his appointment as
honorary president of the Katipunan, on the use of his picture to
adorn the secret session room of the Katipuneros, and on the
testimonies of apprehended Katipuneros.

The prefabricated evidences they dug up yielded nothing but

flimsy deductions which could not definitely prove that Rizal
favored and plotted a rebellion. Desperate for more proofs of
Rizal’s guilt, Captain Olive tortured Paciano to
unconsciousness. Paciano adamantly denied his brother’s guilt
and silently endured one torture after another. He matched his
younger brother’s courage in facing death and in defying
Spanish tyranny. When the authorities were through with
almost-dead Paciano, he had to be carried home on a stretcher.
He was paralyzed and speechless for several days.

The Trial

Inconclusive as the evidence were, Judge Rafael Dominguez

recommended a speedy trial, which the Governor and Judge
Advocate General Nicolas de la Peňa approved. The latter
suggested a trial by military court and ordered the investigating
officer to begin the corresponding confiscation proceedings to
the amount of at least a million pesos.

At the trial, attende mostly by Spaniards, Alcocer addressed the

judges in an overflowing courtroom, concealing his empty logic
with his bombastic eloquence. Every sentence stirred vengeful
atmosphere of the courtroom. Alcocer opened with a description
of th bloody was in the Philippines and Cuba. Then he traced the
Spanish education of Rizal and his activities abroad. He cited
Rizal’s literary works, from his prize-winning poems to the two
novels and other publications which supposedly showed his
separatist tendency. Alcocer attempted to show that Rizal’s
writings were designed to incite anti-friar and anti-Spanish
feelings; that he planned to work through the Masonic lodges so
that the friars might be expelled from the Philippines; and that
the centers of his activities were Hong Kong, Madrid and Manila.
The prosecutor depicted Rizal as a “dedicate agitator of the
native masses” and as a man lacking in sincerity, “obsessed by
an overwhelming hatred for Spain, whose ‘Machiavellian
cunning’ directed the Supreme Council of the Katipunan.” He
denounced Rizal as having resorted to excuses and evasions to
escape punishment.

Concluding his turgid allegations, Alcocer exposed Rizal as the

“soul of the rebellion,” considered by his countrymen as a
superior being whose commands had to be obeyed without
question. Consequently, Alcocer asked for the death penalty. In
case of pardon and unless all other penalties were remitted with
it, he asked that the prisoner be absolutely and permanently
deprived of civil rights and subjected to police surveillance for
life. He should also be compelled to pay an indemnity of
P20,000.

For the defense, Taviel de Andrade appealed to the fairness of

the judges who should not be carried away by the strong current
of prejudices cause by the insurrection. He argued that the
incidents presented by the prosecutor occurred several years
before the rebellion broke out and that had Rizal been accused
before 19 August of that year, no court would convict him on the
same evidences.

Referring to Rizal’s works, Taviel de Andrade argued that the

prosecutor’s impression on Rizal’s writings was a
misconception and that Rizal only asked for the recognition and
respect for the rights of the people. A person, he argued, could
not be condemned for voicing the sentiments of his people.
Neither could he be condemned for organizing the Liga because
its aim was to unite the people for the promotion of commerce,
industry, agriculture, and the arts. He further said that the Liga
was short-lived because Rizal was deported to Dapitan before it
could be fully organized.

Taviel de Andrade bolstered the defense by citing the

technicality of the law: that Rizal’s guilt had not been proven by
the confession of the accused, by reliable witnesses, by expert
testimony, by official documents, by visual proofs, or even by
definite and conclusive indications. Taviel de Andrade
proceeded to explain that the witnesses presented by the
prosecution were biased against Rizal for they were actually co-
accused on the same case, having been apprehended when the
Katipunan was discovered. They naturally had to save their
necks by presenting Rizal as the only instigator and promoter of
the revolution.

Referring to the Liga, Taviel de Andrade argued that the statutes

of the organization which Rizal wrote did not show any evidence
of illegality. He also called the court’s attention to the fact that
Rizal had not written anything or discussed with anyone on any
subject connected with politics since 1892. Valenzuela’s visit to
Dapitan shold have been presented as an argument in Rizal’s
favor, for Rizal actually told Valenzuela that he disapproved for
the uprising. Taviel de Andrade concluded that Rizal’s guilt had
not been proven legally; therefore, the accused should be
acquitted and all his rights should be restored in the name of
justice.

This brilliant argument was ineffective in a hostile courtroom.

Rizal was given a chance to speak in his defense. Impeccably
dressed he took the floor and read his “Additions to My
Defense.” It was a refutation of the connections and activities
imputed to him. He called the court’s attention to the fact that
the Liga died shortly after it was organized because of his exile
to Dapitan and that it was revived without his knowledge. To
prove that the Liga did not serve the revolutionists’ purposes,
Rizal showed that they disregarded it and organized the
Katipunan. In other words, if the Liga aimed at a revolution, the
revolutionists would not have been abolished the said society in
favor of the Katipunan. Referring to the organizational meeting
of the Liga which lasted only for a night, Rizal asked the court:

Can anyone believe that I could have organized this whole

rebellion in a single night, in a single meeting where the
discussion centered on commerce and similar topics?... If the
few who were present at the meeting had taken me seriously
they would not have let the Liga die.

Explaining the passages of bitter criticism in his letters, Rizal

asked the court to consider that these were written when his
family had been stripped of their two residential houses and
their warehouses, as well as their lands and other properties,
and when his brother and all his brothers-in-law were deported.
Concerning the rebellion, Rizal reiterated his counsel’s
arguments that he had “nothing whatsoever to do with political
affairs from 6 July 1892 to 1 June of the present year.” If he
knew of and favored the rebellion, he could have easily escaped
Dapitan because he owned a number of vessels and his guards
allowed him week-long trips. Instead he had started a small
hospital, purchased land, and sent for his family. Since his
activities at Dapitan were questioned, Rizal explained that he
was resigned to his exile because it gave him time to write but
not o incite rebellion as the prosecution alleged.

To the testimony of one of the witnesses that Rizal sent letters

to the revolutionists via his family, he called the attention of the
judges to the fact that not a single letter had been presented in
court as evidence. To further convince the court of his
innocence about the rebellion, he argued that if he had known
about the date and time of the outbreak of the revolution he
would have taken the necessary precautions to avoid possible
arrest. He could have jumped from the ship at any of the ports of
call on his way to Cuba. He did not because “my conscience
was clear.” Rizal reiterated Taviel de Andrade’s defense that
Valenzuela’s visit to Dapitan should be an argument in his favor
because he advised against the revolution. He called attention to
the absurdity of the accusation that he was the leader of the
rebels by asking: “What kind of a chief is he whose followers
say ‘yes’ and he says ‘no’?”

Death for Rizal was certain and he knew it. But he had to make
his last stand in the name of justice. After the court had heard
his defense, he was brought back to his cell to await the verdict.
That was shortly after high noon of the same day. That same
afternoon the findings and decision of the court were forwarded
to Judge Advocate General Nicolas de la Peňa who referred it t
Governor General Camilo de Polavieja for confirmation that
same evening. The next day being a Sunday, the Governor’s
approval of the verdict and the consequent release of the order
for Rizal’s execution were deferred to Monday.

The Long Last Day

After the death sentence was read to Rizal on 29 December, he

refused to sign the notification, reiterating his innocence and
strongly objecting to that part that referred to him as a Chinese
mestizo. His arguments were futile. He had to sign the document
as required by law.

He had only 24 more hours to live. With the guard’s permission,

he sent a note to his family: “I should like to see some of you
before I die, though it may be very painful. Let the bravest come.
I have some important things to say.”

It was a very busy day for him. Visitors came: members of his
family, a newspaperman, his defense counsel, priests, mostly
Jesuits who were working for his retraction from Masonry.

In between these visits he managed to write his last letter to his

closest friend, Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt:

When you receive this letter, I shall be dead. I shall be shot

tomorrow at seven o’clock, but I am innocent of the crime of
rebellion. I am going to die with a clear conscience. Farewell my
best, my dearest friend, and never think ill of me.

With this letter he sent a book which he himself bound when he

was at Dapitan.

On the same day, he wrote Paciano:

My Dear Brother:

It has been four and a half years that we have not seen each
other or have addressed one another in writing or orally. I do not
believe this is due to lack of affection either on my part or yours
but because knowing each other so well, we had no need of
words to understand each other. Now that I am going to die, it is
to you I dedicate my last words to tell you how much I regret to
leave you alone in life bearing all the weight of the family and of
our old parents.

I think of how you have worked to enable me to have a career. I

believe that I have tried not to waste my time. My brother: if the
fruit has been bitter, it is not my fault, it is the fault of
circumstances. I know that you have suffered much because of
me. I am sorry.

I assure you, brother, that I die innocent of this crime of

rebellion. If my former writings had been able to contribute
towards it, I should not deny absolutely, but then I believe I
expiated my past with my exile.

Tell our father that I remember him, but how? I remember my

childhood, his tenderness and his love. Ask him to forgive me
for the pain I cause him unwillingly.

By later afternoon his mother came, accompanied by Maria,

Trinidad, Narcisa, his niece Angelica, and little Mauricio, his
favorite nephew. First to enter his cell was his mother. In tears,
mother and son rushed to each other’s arms but were separated
by the guards. He knelt and kissed her hand. And that moment
there were no words. With grief and tenderness their tearful eyes
met in love and understanding. Then Rizal asked his mother to
seek the authorities’ permission for the family to bury his body.
After a few minutes Doňa Teodora left. She had to follow up a
personal plea to the Governor General for clemency for her son.

One by one the others came. He looked around his cell for
something to give each one: to Angelica he gave a handkerchief,
to Narcisa he gave his wicker chair, to Mauricio a belt and a
watch with chain. To Trinidad, who understood English, he gave
a little alcohol burner saying aloud that he did not have anything
better to give her. He had had this burner in his cell to heat his
cold meals. And as he handed the burner to her, he whispered in
English: “There is something in it.” He had nothing more left to
give to Maria but he confided to her that he would marry
Josephine.

This gift-giving on his last day was planned. There was no other
way of smuggling his last message to his people, a legacy to the
future generations to inspire them to continue the work he had
begun.

When all the members of the family had left, Josephine came for
a very brief visit. Not much could be said between them. He
loved her but faith had separated them.

Relieved that his last poem and message was in safe hands, he
lay down to rest. He felt an inner satisfaction because he knew
he had fulfilled his mission. And now without fear and
hesitation, he was finally offering his life for his country.

He reminisced about the past, both distant and immediate. His

quietude was interrupted by voices and footsteps outside his
cell door. The priests who had been conscientiously working for
his retraction from Masonry were back.

We have Father Vicente Balaguer’s word for what transpired in

Rizal’s cell from dusk that day to dawn the next morning, before
the prisoner was led out to die at Bagumbayan. In a report
submitted to his superiors and cabled to a Barcelona paper, La
Juventud, where it was printed 15 days later, Father Balaguer
said that he and his colleagues showed Rizal the retraction
drafted by Archbishop Nozaleda. It was too long to suit his
purpose. He preferred the draft that had been prepared by Father
Pio Pi, the Jesuit superior. He made certain changes, wrote his
own retraction, and signed it. He went to confession and then
tried to sleep.

On the first hour of 30 December 1896, Father Balaguer said

Rizal confessed again. At Rizal’s request, Father Balaguer said
Mass and he received Holy Communion. After the mass, Father
Jose Vilaclara, one of his favorite Ateneo teachers who had been
with him a good part of the previous day, suggested the reading
of the acts of faith, hope, and charity. He then turned to Thomas
a Kempis’ Imitation of Christ.

While waiting for Josephine he wrote a final letter to his family:

…I ask for your forgiveness, for the pain I caused you, but
someday I shall have to die, and it is better that I die now in
plenitude of my conscience.

Dear parents and brothers: Give thanks to God that I may

preserve my tranquility before my death. I die resigned, hoping
that with my death you will be left in peace. Ah! It is better to die
than to live suffering. Console yourselves. I enjoyed you to
forgive one another the little vexations of life and try to live in
peace and harmony. Treat our old parents as you would like to
be treated by your children later. Love them very much in my
memory.

Bury me in the ground. Place a stone or a cross over it. My

name, the date of my birth and of my death. Nothing more. If
later you wish to fence in my grave, you can do so. But no
anniversary celebrations. I prefer Paang Bundok.

The report states that Josephine arrived at five o’clock. There

were no lengthy formalities to the wedding ceremony. The
overcautious commanding officer stood between the couple
while a guard watched Rizal closely during the brief ceremony.
Father Balaguer asked the couple to clasp each other’s hand.
The commanding officer refused to allow this act because of the
regulation not to let any visitor touch the prisoner. But the priest
insisted that this was an important part of the ceremony. Over
the clasped hands of Rizal and Josephine, Father Balaguer
intoned the sacramental prayers and then pronounced them
man and wife.

After the ceremony, Rizal gave Josephine his book, Imitation of

Christ, with the dedication: “To my dear and unhappy wife, 30
December 1896.” They stood both quite for a while, conscious of
the approaching hour of the execution. They had so much to say
to each other but there was no time. Rizal finally managed to ask
her: “What is to become of you?” She could not tell him in the
presence of the guard that she would give lessons in English.
Time was up and she had to leave. She bade him a tearful
goodbye. Lovingly Rizal looked at her for the last time:
“Farewell, sweet foreigner, my crony, my delight!”

With Josephine gone, he had a few more minutes to write his

parents. To his father he wrote: “Forgive me the sorrow with
which I repay the anxieties and toil you underwent to give me an
education. I did not want this nor did I expect it. Farewell, father,
farewell.”

His unfinished note to his mother began:

To my very dear mother

Sra Da Teodora Alonso
At 6 in the morning of December 30, 1896

Jose Rizal

He could not continue his note. For a man who could easily write
down his thoughts, he could not express his deepest sympathy
to his beloved grieving mother.

The execution

Dressed in black from head to foot, Rizal walked out of his cell,
his arms loosely bound, elbow to elbow. He was flanked by
Taviel de Andrade and Father Vilaclara and Estanislao March. A
bugler and a drummer led the detachment of Filipino soldiers
that escorted him to the Luneta de Bagumbayan. The firing
squad was composed of Filipinos who were members of the
regular army. His lat glimpse of the Ateneo gladdened him
somewhat. “I spent seven years there,” he remarked to his
escorts.

At the execution square he was blessed and given the crucifix to

kiss. The army doctor, Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo, felt his pulse and
found it normal and steady.

Just before the order to fire was given, Rizal requested that he
be shot in the front for he was not a traitor. But the explicit
orders were otherwise. His second request, that his head be
spared, was granted.

The order rang out and a volley of shots was fired. As the bullets
pierced him, Rizal tried to turn right about and fell. He had
proudly offered his life as a supreme sacrifice for his country
that the wisdom of his example would serve as an inspiration to
his fellowmen.