Candido, Nizza T.

Ged 103

Journeying through Jose Rizal’s Life, Exile, and Death

I was fortunate enough to have visited sites that are of primary importance to Dr. Jose P.
Rizal this year, which is also his sesquicentennial birth anniversary.  I have also included excerpts from
the authoritative collection of essays by Ambeth R. Ocampo, Rizal without the Overcoat.

First, I begin in his birthplace and hometown, Calamba, Laguna. I then fly to where he was exiled
in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, and finally, I see where he was incarcerated and ultimately executed
by firing squad in Manila.

Our national hero was born seventh of the 11 children of prosperous farming parents, Francisco
Mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonzo y Quintos. Dr. Rizal was born in the then Domincan-controlled town
of Calamba, Laguna, and this is where we begin.

LIFE: CALAMBA, LAGUNA

You see, the Rizals were not really landowners. They were tenants of the Dominicans
who owned most of the land in Calamba. According to the Rizals (the Dominicans have their
own version of the story), the tenants started to complain about rent increases that did not
consider whether the harvest for that season was good or not…

Rizal was not a radical man, but in 1891, he became a spokesman for these tenants
whom he advised to trust in the justice and goodness of Mother Spain. The tenants did just that,
and the Spanish governor-general, Valeriano Weyler (who became notorious as the Butcher of
Cuba), sent soldiers to bodily evict the hardheaded tenants from Calamba…It was a major
upheaval for the people of Calamba and also Rizal, who became a marked man not only for his
anti-clerical novel, Noli me tangere, but also for being in the center of a major agrarian
dispute. –Rizal’s New Calamba in Sabah

Rizal Shrine in Calamba, Laguna is a 1950 replica of the original house where our national
hero was born on June 19, 1861. The original house, built after Dr. Rizal’s parents married in
1848, adapted Spanish architectural design and was one of the first stone and hardwood houses
in Calamba. The house was symbolic of the Rizal family’s well-off status.

Managed by the National Historical Institute, the replica house by National Artist for
Architecture Juan Nakpil showcases some colonial furniture and kitchenware, as well as Dr. Rizal’s
clothes, paintings, sculptures, and laminated excerpts of written works. Below is a replica of a
nipa hut where young Dr. Rizal used to play.

How to get there: Calamba City is a little over an hour’s drive from Manila via South
Luzon Expressway. Buses to Sta. Cruz, Laguna from Cubao and Buendia will make a stop in
Calamba Crossing. From there, a jeepney or tricycle can be taken to “bayan” or city centre.

EXILE: DAPITAN, ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE

Sometimes I cannot make sense of Rizal. Was he happy in Dapitan? In 1893, he wrote
Blumentritt and described a typical day:

“I have three houses: a square house, a six-sided house, and an eight-sided house. My mother,
my sister Trinidad, and a nephew and I live in the square house; my students—boys who I am teaching
math, Spanish and English—and a patient [in the six-sided house]. My chickens live in the six-sided
house. From my house, I can hear the murmur of a crystalline rivulet that drops from high rocks. I can
see the shore, the sea where I have two small boats or barotos, as they are called here. I have many fruit
trees: mangoes, lanzones, guyabanos, batuno, langka, etc. I have rabbits, dogs, cats, etc.

I get up early, at 5 in the morning inspect my fields, feed the chickens, wake up my farm-hands
and get them to work. At half past 7, we have breakfast consisting of tea, pastries, cheese, sweets, etc.
Then, I hold clinic examining patients and training the poor patients who come to see me. I dress and go
to town in my baroto to visit my patients there. I return at noon and have lunch that has been prepared
for me. Afterwards I teach the boys until 4 and spend the rest of the afternoon in the fields. At night, I
read and study.”

Although Rizal did not live behind bars, Dapitan was not London, Paris, New York or Madrid.
Dapitan was literally the boondocks. —Rizal’s poetry in Dapitan

Dr. Rizal was exiled in Dapitan in July 1892 after being implicated in nascent rebellion. Through
his shared lottery winnings, he was able to procure a parcel of land near the shore of Talisay in March
1983. During his exile, he was a farmer, entrepreneur, educator, inventor, painter, sculptor,
archaeologist, linguist, grammarian, architect, poet, biologist, composer, surveyor, environmentalist,
and most importantly, a practicing physician.

While sequestered by the Spaniards on January 15, 1897 as part of indemnity to Spain, Dr.
Rizal’s 16-hectare estate in Talisay, Dapitan was converted in 1913 and eventually reconstructed into a
sprawling park in his memory. Then Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon by virtue of
Proclamation No. 616 declared it as “Rizal National Park”  in 1940.
 Currently, the park oasts of replicas, including the dormitory of Dr. Rizal’s students, his
house, kitchen, and bedroom. Likewise within the park is an exhibition of memorabilia. A group of
Rizalistas also roam around and maintain the park grounds.

How to get there: Two airlines service the nearby City of Dipolog (IATA: DPL).
Philippine Airlines flies from Manila, and Cebu Pacific flies from both Manila and Cebu.
From the airport or the city proper of Dipolog, buses ply the Dipolog-Dapitan route. From
the bus terminal in Dapitan, the park is just a short tricycle ride away. Alternatively,
OceanJet runs a daily fastcraft service to the port of Dapitan from Cebu via Tagbilaran,
Bohol and Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.

DEATH: MANILA

The slow walk to Bagumbayan began at 6:30 a.m. It was a cool, clear morning and Rizal was
dressed, appropriately, in black. Black coat, black pants and a black cravat emphasized by his white shirt
and waistcoat. He was tied elbow to elbow, but he proudly held up his head, crowned with the signature
chistera or bowler hat made famous by Charlie Chaplin

He made one last request that the soldiers spare his precious head and shoot him in the back
toward the heart. When the captain agreed, Rizal shook the hand of Taviel de Andrade and thanked him
for the vain effort of defending him.

Meanwhile, a curious Spanish military doctor came and felt Rizal’s pulse and was surprised to
find it regular and normal. The Jesuits were the last to leave the condemned man. They raised a crucifix
to Rizal’s face and lips, but he turned his head away and silently prepared for death.

As the captain raised his saber in the air, he ordered his men to be ready and shouted,
Preparen! The order to aim the rifles followed: Apunten!

Then, in split second before the captain’s saber was brought down with the order to fire Fuego!,
Rizal shouted the two last words of Christ, Conssumatum est! (it is done). The shots rang out, the bullets
hit their mark and Rizal made that carefully choreographed twist he practiced years before that would
make him fall face-up on the ground. –“Oh, what a beautiful morning!”

To prove his dissociation from the revolution, Dr. Rizal sought and was granted
permission by Governor-General Ramon Blanco to be sent to Cuba from Dapitan to treat those
with yellow fever. However, Dr. Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba, incarcerated in Barcelona,
and sent back to Manila. He was imprisoned in Fort Santiago while standing for trial.

He was associated with members of the Katipunan, whichh made him as their honorary
president without his knowledge. The Spaniards further presented evidence proving Dr. Rizal’s
“involvement” in the Katipunan, among them: his picture hung in meeting places, his name used
as password, and his name called in their battlecry. He was found guilty by the Spaniards of
rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy and was condemned to death by firing squad.

On December 30, 1896, at around seven in the morning, Dr. Rizal was shot, as described
above, in Bagumbayan, which was later known as Luneta. His remains were initially buried in
Paco Cemetery, pictured above, with no identification but was later exhumed to be properly and
honorably interred under the mighty bronze and granite Rizal Monument in what is now known
as Rizal Park. This was made possible by virtue of Philippine Commission Act No. 243 passed on
September 28, 1901 under American rule.

At present, Fort Santiago has a model of Dr. Rizal’s detention cell inside Rizal Shrine. Also
on exhibit inside the shrine are Dr. Rizal’s overcoat, copies of his works, and his vertebra with a
bullet embedded. Meanwhile, Rizal Park hosts a multitude of attractions, among them a One Stop
Rizal Heritage Trail and a relief map.

How to get there: Upon touchdown at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (IATA: MNL),
metered taxis can take you for a short ride to Rizal Park, Fort Santiago, or Paco Park. Alternatively,
jeepneys and buses in Manila are abundant and can take you to these three sites.

AFTERTHOUGHT

Journeying through these three sights gave me a glimpse of how intricate, albeit fulfilling,
the life our national hero is. This rewarding expedition through Dr. Rizal’s life and work can be
summed up by his patriotic words:

“I have always loved my poor country and I’m sure I shall love her until my last moment,
should men prove unjust to me. I shall die happy, satisfied with the thought that all I have
suffered, my life, my loves, my joys, my everything, I have sacrificed for the love of her.”