CHAPTER IIT BIRTH, EDUCATION, AND TRAVELS “pon’t you realize that a life which is not dedicated to a great cause IS useless? It is like a pebble lost in the field, when it should have formed part of a building. “ -Simoun (El Filibusterismo) Rizal in his biography narrates that on the night of Wednesday, June 19, 1861 at Calamba,. Laguna, after a painful and difficult labor “on the part of his mother, he was born, to use his own words, “into the valley of tears” 1 The province of Laguna was then a first class alcaldia. Calamba, a lakeshore town, was a prosperous agricultural community devoted to the producti r. The Dominican friars practically owned the whole town, so most of its people were their tenants. The climate was favorable. The scenic beauty (the town nestles at the foot of majestic Mt. Makiling) gave Rizal a conducive atmosphere for his aesthetic sensibilities. The green meadows all around; the verdant plains covered with rice fields; the family orchard; and the picturesque beauty of Laguna De Bay also enhanced his sense of creativity and his love of nature. ; In one of his diaries, Rizal, however, wrote of the unhappy environment brought about by the abusive treatment of which his townspeople suffered in the hands of Spanish officials. He wrote: I spent many, many hours of my childhood down on the shore of the lake, Laguna de Bay. I was thinking of what was beyond. I was dreaming of what might be over the other side of the wave. Almost everyday in our town, we saw the Guardia civil lieutenant caning and injuring some unarmed and inaggressive villagers. The villager’s only fault was, while at 2 ' distance, he had not taken off his hat and made hi The: ltT alcalde treated the poor villagers in the same way whenever he visited us. 2 Another unhappy instance that also No eee eh noble ang i that which happened to his mother. | Was ed, ns mother was sent to jail for the malicious char je that i d her bro er Jose Alberto, tried to poison the latter’ s wife. She Te 1 an innocent victim of a rison for two and a half ears, ° i fran roncacted by her sister-in-law, in connivance with the eonah Lewenant of the Guardia Civil in Calamba. The Spanish Lieutenant forced Dona Teodora to walk a a ed from Calamba to Santa Cruz where the provincial jail was located, She was, 7 e@quently acquitted by the Manila Royal Audiencia (Supreme Court). Recalling his mother’s incarceration, Rizal wrote this in his memoirs: Our mother was unjustly snatched away from us, and by whom? By some men who had been our friends and whom we treated as honored guests. We learned later that our mother got sick, far from us and at an advanced age...She finally succeeded to be acquitted and vindicated in the eyes of her judges, accusers, and even her enemies, but after how long? after two and a half years. ANCESTRY Rizal was of mixed_racial origin. He descended from a hard working and_ intelligent i it, Domingo _Lamco, who married Inez de la Rosa, a Chinesa_tnastiza, From the Chinese community in Manila, the family migrated to Binan and became tenants of the Dominican friars. Lam-co’s son, Francisco, who was to be Rizal’s great grandfather, was appointed Municipal Captain of Binan ) in 1783. The family adopted the surname Mercado (“market place”) complying with the Claveria Decree, which mandated that all Filipinos use Spanish surnames, Francisco Mercado and his wife, Bernarda Monicha had two children: Juan and Clemente. Juan married Cirila Alejandra, also a Chinese mestiza. They bore 14. children, one of whom was Francisco, Rizal's father. errr iii |The family of Teodora Alonzo, Rizal’s mother, was prominent than that of the Mercados’. The Alonzos had engineers, lawyers, priests and government officials. RIZAL’S IMMEDIATE FAMILY The fortunes built through the labors of Rizal’s parents raised them to the privileged class, the principalia. Rizal’s family owned a big rectangular house made of hard wood and adobe. They owned several carriages and horses- symbols of affluence and respectability among families in the municipality. Francisco Mercado studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of San Jose in Manila. Rizal described him as “a model of fathers”. From his father, “he inherited a-profound sense of dignity and self respect, seriousness and self possession.” Dona Teodora Alonzo was born in Santa Cruz, Manila. She was a talented and remarkable woman. Rizal admired and adored her. “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.”3 The Mercado couple was blessed with eleven children. They were Saturnina, Paciano, Narciso, Olimpia, Lucia, Maria, Jose, Concepcion, Josefa, Trinidad and Soledad. EARLY INFLUENCES At the age of three, Rizal learned from his mother the alphabet. The extensive library of the family (largest private library in Calamba) of more than 1,000 books helped him kindle his interests in reading and literature. As a boy, he also manifested his skills in painting, sketching and sculpture. As his first teacher, Dona Teodora encouraged Rizal to express his ideas and sentiments in verse. At the age of eight, through his mother’s prodding, he wrote his first poem, Sa Aking Mga Kabata (To my Fellow Children). One of his profound memories was a tale his mother related to him one evening. The fable, “The Story of the Moth” was about the mother moth warning its offspring of the danger of fluttering too close 27to the flame. The little moth did not heed the advice, and was then! burned by the flame. Rizal would not forget this tale because It gave him the moral lesson that if one must have to succeed, he must take risks and prepare for the worst consequences, Without courage, there | will be no glory. He recounted the incident in his diary: 4 My mother finished the fable. I was not listening; all my | attention, all my mind, and all my thoughts were concentrated | on the fate of the moth, young, dead, and full of illusions...the light seemed to be more beautiful, dazzling and attractive. I understood why the moth flutter around lights...that preoccupied me most was the death of the moth, but at the bottom of my heart, I did not blame it. FORMAL EDUCATION At the age of nine, Rizal was sent by his parents to study in Binan, where he learned Latin and Spanish. It was also there where he developed the Initial lessons in drawing and painting from a local painter. Contemporaneously with the birth of Rizal were important developments affecting the educational system in the Philippines. In 1855, Governor General Manuel Crespo created a commission to study the condition of elementary education in the Philippines and recommend remedies and reforms. In 1861, during the administration of Governor General Jose Lemery, the commission submitted its report and forwarded the same to Spain. From the commissions’ recommendations, the Educational Decree of 1863 was based. The Educational Decree of 1863 feorganized the elementary school system of the Philippines. It also ordered the establishment In each town one primary school for boys and another for girls. The establishment of a normal school under the supervision of the Jesuits was also decreed. Also in 1859, the management and supervision of the Ateneo Municipal, a primary school maintained by the city government of Manila, was turned over to the Jesuits. In 1865, the school became a college. The Jesuits’ ideas and Ideals of education attracted the sons of prominent Filipino families. In 1872, Rizal came to Ateneo to study. He stayed there for five years until he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors that entitled him to enroll in any university.ere a BI oe of his classes at the Ateneo, he understood Spanish i 1 yet speak the language fluently. But, in a week’s time, '€ was promoted and after a month, he became the “emperor” (top student) of his class. His grades in most of his subjects were excellent. : While at the Ateneo, Rizal produced two sculptural pleces carved in batikulin. One was the figure of Cur Lady and the other was the Image of the Sacred Heart. These works of art are still preserved at the Ateneo. The importance of education was the primary theme of Rizal’s early poems while a student at the Ateneo. These were Por La Educacion: Recibe Lustre la Patria (Through Education, the Country Receives Light) and Alianza Intima entre la Religion y la Buena Educacion (The Intimate Alliance between Religion and Good Education). The literary and academic excellence of Rizal qualified him for membership into two prestigious socleties at Ateneo: the Academy of Spanish Literature and the Academy of Natural Sclences. He later became Prefect of the Academy of Spanish Literature. STUDIES AT THE UST After graduating his AB degree from the Ateneo, he enrolled in courses in Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas. After completing the first year of that course, Rizal, upon the advice of his Ateneo Rector, shifted to the medical course. He finally decided to take up Medicine because of his desire to treat the failing eyesight of his mother. In that same school year (1877-78) when Rizal was still a UST student, he also studied Surveying and Agriculture in Ateneo. He was more loyal to Ateneo whose Jesuit teachers unlike the Dominicans in UST, loved him and encouraged him to pursue higher level of knowledge. In 1880, when Rizal was still a medical student at UST, he had his first experience of Spanish arrogance and brutality. Of an Incident In Calamba, he gave the following account: ight by 1880, I was mauled and wounded one dark ni the uit guard, for having passed by a statue and failing to salute it. The statue turned out to be the lieutenant commanderof the detachment. I was treacherously wounded on the shoulder without word of explanation. I went to Mr. Primo de | Rivera. I never saw his Excellency nor did I ever receive redress. 5 While at the UST, he manifested his literary talents. He joined a literary contest sponsored by the Liceo Artistico Literario de Manila. His entry was the poem “A /a Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth) and ~ won the top prize in form of a feather-shaped silver pen with gold | ribbon. The following year, the Liceo sponsored another contest’ celebrating the centenary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes. Again, Rizal won the first prize for his play “£/ Concejo de Dioses (The Council of the Gods). Rizal's two prize- winning opuses had proven that an Indlo/could assert himself an equal, if not, better than the Spaniards In the field of literature. The pervading racial discrimination at the UST gave Rizal the theme for his one- act play, the Junto a/ Pasig, which he wrote during his time as President of the Academy of Spanish Literature of the Ateneo. The drama satirized the friar In the person of Satan who tempted one of the characters with fabulous riches and powers. When the play was staged, the Jesuits gamely laughed at the satire, but some conservative friars felt insulted. EDUCATION IN EUROPE After finishing the fourth year of his medical course, Rizal decided to travel to Europe and broaden his field of specialization in Ophthalmology. He left for Europe aboafd the Salvadora on May 3 1882 and arrived at Barcelona by mid June, Then he moved to Madrid because education expenses there were cheaper. He enrolled at the Central University of Madrid for Licentiate In Medicine. To activate and update his artistic skills, he took up lessons In painting and sculpture at the Academla de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Other schedules also included the study of French and German at the Ateneo de Madrid. During his free time, he frequented the theatre. he completed his course for Licentiate In June 1884, py t that would have entitled him to a university Philosophy and Letters professorship.RIZAL, THE STUDENT ACTIVIST Rizal and other Fillpino students, together with other foreign students (Cuban, Mexican and Peruvian) participated In the bloody student riots that erupted In the Central University on November 20, 21 and 22, 1884. The-\Issue at hand~was Dr Miguel Morayta’s proclamation of “Freedom” of Science and the Teacher” during the opening ceremonies of .the academic year in the university. The reactionary Catholic Bishops of Spain condemned this liberal view and Dr. Morayta was excommunicated. This angered the students and the violent riots started. The university Rector who sided with the students was forced to resign. The replacement of the sacked Rector by an unpopular successor further.Intensifled the wrath of the student protesters. Rizal recounted these riots to his family in a letter dated November 26, 1884. He wrote: When the new Rector went to assume office the next day, feelings were much irritated, we were still seeing red, it was resolved not to return to classes as long as they did not give satisfaction, and remove the Rector...0n that day, there were new encounters, new fights, wounded, cane _ blows, imprisonments, etc. It was on the same day, the 21°*, when a police lleutenant and a secret service man wanted to seize Ventura and me, but he and I escaped. Two Filipinos were taken prisoners. On the third day, Saturday, the 22™, the new Rector’s called the police to occupy the university, to the great t of the professors and the great indignation of the re than 80 guards occupied the University up and down; they had their guns and bugles in the lecture hall.... This Rector, to avoid the cat calls and insults of the students, leaves and enters the University thru the secret door in the garden...A rich banker offered ten thousand duros to the ex Rector to bail out the Imprisoned students...I had the luck of not having received even a cane blow nor taken prisoner nor arrested despite my two roles as a student of Medicine and of Philosophy and Letters... Whether It was luck or not, the case Is that there were wounded all men, women, children, soldiers and strangers; no Filipino was wounded, but Cubans and Spaniards, many.6 crew disgusi students...mo.PARIS TO BERLIN In November 1885, Rizal moved to Paris where he stayed for about four months. Together with some foreigners, he worked as | assistant In the clinic of Dr. Louis de Weckert, a leading French | ophthalmologist fron November 1885 to February 1886. He easily | learned the medical techniques of eye operation during this stint with the French doctor. His limited finances and his desire to know more about Ophthalmology prompted him to move to Germany where he met Dr. | Otto Becker, a renowned eye specialist. He then worked in a hospital | In Heldelberg where Becker was the Director. From Heldelberg, he | transferred to Berlin where he worked as an assistant In a clinic of Dr Schultzer and Dr Xavier Galezowski, both leading German ophthalmologists. Rizal stayed in Germany throughout 1886 and the first four months and a half of 1887. During this period, he visited many parts of the country- Dresden, Berlin, Rhineland and Leipzig. He met and became acquainted with many respected and well- known German scholars such as Dr. A. B. Meyer, the head of the Anthropological and Ethnographical Society of Berlin, Dr Feodor Jagor who visited the Philippines In 1859-60 and Dr Rudolph Virchow, a world renowned German anthropologist. From Berlin, Rizal with his friend Dr Maximo Viola made a tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Leaving Viola in Germany, he proceeded to Italy visiting Turin, Milan, Venice and Florence on his way to Rome. He arrived at the Eternal City on June 29, 1887. THE ACTIVE WRITER AND SCHOLAR Rizal's reading of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom's Cabin, which depicts the abuses of the American slave-owners and the miserable conditions of the Negroes In southern American states, Inspired him to write a novel that would portray the pathetic plight of Filipinos under Spanish rule. He probably had started writing the Noli Me Tangere when he was a student in the Central University of Madrid. Rizal previously proposed a book- writing project to the members of the Circulo-Hispano Filipino and that the book would cover all phases of Philippine life. However, almost all of hls compatriots just wanted to write about the character and activities of Fillpino women. Disgusted,EE yar @ book by himself. Despite his many activities and ; a , he was able to finish the first half of the Noli in Madrid. le continued writing In-Parls where he moved in 1885, finlshing one half of the second half. He finished this book in Germany while at the same time working as assistant to German doctors. i Running short of money, he borrowed three hundred pesos from his friend Maximo Viola for the printing of two thousand coples of the Noll. A German printer finally released the book In March 1887. His knowledge of the German language enabled him to understand the writing of German scholars about the Philippines. In Germany, he met Dr Ferdinand Blumentritt, who later became his best friend. Blumentritt helped Rizal in his research on the Philippines at European libraries. Rizal studied and translated Blumentritt’s Ethnography of the Island of Mindanao. Using his friend’s map, he corrected the 1852 map of Mindanao that he brought with him to Europe. Rizal became a colleague of the famous Rudolph Virchow, who sponsored his membership to the prestigious Berlin Anthropological Society. Rizal delivered a lecture to the society on Tagalog people and culture. Dr A. B. Meyer, who had visited the Philippines and had written a book about the Igorots, also helped Rizal’s membership in the Geographical and Ethnological Society of Berlin, an organization composed of scholars and scientists of different nationalities. Rizal qualified to become a member of the organization by submitting an original paper the “The Tagalog Art of Versification”. SIX MONTHS SOJOURN IN THE PHILIPPINES lon of the Noli, Rizal decided to return home. Paclano and other friends that his first novel had caused so much uproar among the friars, Rizal did not heed their advice and was determined to come home for the following reasons: to find out for himself how his first novel was affecting his compatriots and Spaniards, and to operate on his mother’s eyes. After the publicatl Desplte the warning by He arrived In Manila on August 5, 1887, A warm and cordial reception awaited him In his hometown, Calamba. However, he also felt the pressure exerted by the friars and the several groups that he antagonized In the Noll, Meanwhile, he established a medical clinic and successfully operated on his mother's eyes.The special committee created by the religious authorities to review the Noll recommended the absolute prohibition, importation, reproduction and circulation of the “pernicious” book. The novel according to the friars was "heretical, impious and scandalous in its religious aspects and unpatriotic and subversive to public order” 7 Rizal’s movements had to be limited because he received dally threats to his person. The liberal Governor Emilio Terrero provided Rizal with a personal bodyguard in the person of Lieutenant Jose Taviel de Andrade of the Guardia Civil. As the controversy on the Noll raged, Rizal got involved into the Calamba Agrarian Affair. This controversy stemmed from Governor Terrero’s order to investigate the friar estates whether inequities were present In connection with land taxes and with tenant relations. The Calamba tenants solicited Rizal’s help by making him their spokesman. He then proceeded to expose the deplorable conditions of the tenants. His findings were attested in writing by both the complainants and the Officials of the friar estates. Rizal’s expose’ further infuriated the friars that they now demanded for his deportation. Security for the Rizal’s famlly became a real problem and he was advised to leave the country. He secretly left the colony on February 3 1888, after a six months sojourn. AS AN ACTIVE PROPAGANDIST To prove his point and refute the accusations of prejudiced Spanish writers against his race, Rizal annotated the book Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, written by the Spaniard Antonio Morga. The book was an unblased presentation of 16 century Filipino culture. Rizal through his annotations showed that Fillpinos had a developed culture even before the coming of the Spaniards, While annotating Morga’s book, he began writing the sequel to the Noll, the &/ Filibusterismo. He completed the Fili In July 1891 while he was In Brussels, Begium. As in the printing of the Noli, Rizal could not publish the sequel for lack of finances. Fortunately, Valentin Ventura gave him financial assistance and the Fill came out of the printing press on September 1891. The El Filibusterismo Indicted Spanish colonial policies and attacked the Filipino collaborators of such system. The novel pictured a society on the brink of a revolution. MTo buttress his defense of the natives’ pride and dignity as people, Rizal wrote three significant essays while abroad; The Philippines a Century Hence, the Indolence of the Filipinos and the letter to the Women of Malolos. These writings were his brilliant responses to the vicious attacks against the Indio and his culture. He wanted to return to his homeland after the publication of the Fili, but again his family advised him against’ doing It. He decided to sall for Hongkong where his father, brother and a brother-in-law were re-united with him. While in Hongkong,” Rizal planned the founding of the Liga Fillpina, a civic organization, and the establishment of a Filipino colony in Borneo. After successful negotiations with the representatives of the North Borneo Company, he was granted permission by the British Governor to establish a settlement on a 190,000- acre property In North Borneo. The colony was to be under the protectorate of the North Borneo Company, with the “same privileges and conditions as those given in the treaty with local Bornean rulers”8 Governor Eulogio Despujol disapproved the project for obvious and self-serving reasons. He considered the plan impractical and improper that Filipinos would settle and develop foreign territories while the Philippines Itself badly needed such developments RIZAL’S EXILE TO DAPITAN Against the advice of his family, he took the risk and came home. With his sister Lucia, they arrived in the Philippines on June 26, 1892. Within two weeks upon his arrival, the Spanish Governor General received him at least five times. Through these meetings with the Governor General, he was able to obtain pardon for his father and family on their alleged complicity in the Calamba agrarian affair. However, on July 6, 1892, he was summoned again to Malacanang Palace. There he was charged of having brought with him from Hong Kong the subversive leaflets entitled Pobres Fralles (Poor Friars). This satire written by P. Jacinto ridiculed ‘certain Dominican friars who violated their vows of poverty. Despite Rizal’s denlal of the charge, he was arrested and imprisoned at Fort Santiago. Additional charges were later brought against him. He was accused of dedicating his second novel, the El Filibusterismo to the memory of the three martyred priests who had aie eet RS Rae ott MRR iabeen proven traitors but whom he considered innocent of their crimes. He was also charged of advocating separatist ideas undermining Spanish authority. The deportation decree also charged that his writings had the sole purpose “to uproot from loyal Filipino breasts the treasure of our Holy Catholic Faith the unbreakable keystone of national unity of this land.” 9 On July 14, 1892, he was notified that he would be deported to Dapitan in Mindanao. On the evening of the same day, he was escorted under heavy guard to the steamship Cebu for exile to Dapitan.