1 RIZAL: Module IV

Life and Works of

Jose Rizal
2 RIZAL: Module IV

LEARNING ACTIVITY

In not less than 5 paragraphs, come up with a narrative report stating all the
important information that needs to be known that transpired during the exile of Jose
Rizal in Dapitan. Base your report on your readings.

THE LIFE OF THE HERO IN EXILE

Beside a spacious beach of fine and delicate sand and at the foot of a mountain
greener than a leaf, I found in my land a refuge under a pleasant orchard, and in its
shadowy forests, serene tranquility, repose to my intellect and silence to my grief.
(Jose Rizal, “My Retreat”)

Jose Rizal’s decision to come home is like bearding the lions in their own den. Rizal’s
dangerous homecoming on June 26, 1892 led him to be sentenced to exile in Dapitan
based on the following charges against him. First, he was indicted of publishing books
and articles which were “frankly anti-Catholic” and anti-friar. Second, upon his
arrival in Manila the Spaniards found in his luggage the pamphlet Pobres Frailes that
mocked the customs of religious institutions. Third, Rizal had openly dedicated his
novel, El Filibusterismo, to the memory of GomBurZa or the three “traitors”. Lastly,
Rizal’s attempts in his writings of de-Catholicizing the Filipino people. For four years,
the hero experienced the torment of being alone in a far off lonely place. But despite
being cast out into an unbeknownst whereabout, Rizal incredibly managed to turn his
situation into a productive banishment.

Rizal, aboard the steamer Cebu, had reached Dapitan on the Sunday of the 17th of
July 1892 at seven o’clock in the evening. Beginning from that day to the 31 st of July
1896, Dapitan witnessed the life of a hero in exile.

In Dapitan, the Jesuit Parish Priest, Father Pablo Pastells attempted to change the
perception and judgement of Rizal about the priests. He tried to win over and
convince Rizal by engaging in debates regarding Catholic issues but his efforts had
proven to be futile. Not necessarily anti-Catholic, but Jose Rizal kept just enough
bitterness against the abusive Spanish friars.

The hero also had an encounter with the Katipunan, through Andres Bonifacio’s
emissary, Dr. Pio Valenzuela, who was ordered to go to Dapitan in order to inform and
seek the advice of Rizal regarding the armed uprising and the ultimate plan of
rescuing him to escape from his exile in Dapitan. To camouflage his mission, Dr. Pio
brought with him a blind companion known as Raymundo Mata who served as a decoy
to solicit the medical expertise of Rizal. However, Rizal opposed the stratagem of a
bloody revolution for two definite reasons – first, the people are not ready for a
painful revolt and second, the Katipunan did not have enough arms, hence,
3 RIZAL: Module IV

Bonifacio’s plot as such would be a veritable suicide. Furthermore, Rizal also refused
to be rescued from his exile. As a man of honor, Rizal wanted to keep his word to the
Spanish authorities that he would never escape Dapitan.

Moreover, Rizal’s four-year stay in Dapitan was marked with productivity. While in
exile, the hero made essential contributions in the community development of the
remote town. It was during this period of being ostracized that Rizal used his talent
and ingenuity to be of service to his countrymen. He served as a doctor, scientist and
inventor, farmer, teacher, engineer, artist, and businessman – an overall community
developer.

Rizal has proved to be a hero by accepting to treat underprivileged patients who

lacked the means to afford medical services. His popularity as a physician and
particularly as an eye specialist, spread like wildfire. As a result, he had patients
coming from the different islands of the archipelago and even from outside the
Philippine soil. One of his rare patients with an upper class background was Don
Ignacio Tumarong, who was able to see once again because of Rizal’s incredible
ophthalmic expertise. Gratified and satisfied, Don Tumarong paid Rizal P3,000 for his
operation. Another rich Englishman who became one of Rizal’s patients paid him
P500, and a wealthy haciendero from Aklan known as Don Florencio Azacarraga, who
was also cured of an eye ailment, paid Rizal a cargo of sugar. However, the most
important ophthalmic surgery he did was perhaps when he operated on his mother’s
eye in the August of 1893. Albeit the operation was successful, Doña Teodora refused
to heed his son’s instruction and removed the bandages from her eyes, thereby
causing infection. Meanwhile, Rizal also supplemented his knowledge as perito
agrimensor (expert surveyor) by reading engineering-related books and applied it by
constructing a water system that benefitted the townsfolk of Dapitan. Surely, modern
engineers would marvel at how Rizal was able to build such system for he had
inadequate tools and limited finances without any aid from the government. On the
other hand, Rizal always valued education. Hence, his exile in Dapitan gave him the
opportunity to be what he always wanted to be – an educator. He established an
informal school attended by 16 pupils who weren’t charged of any centavo. Instead,
they were required to render their services to Rizal’s garden, fields, and in the
community. These boys were taught how to read, write, and speak Spanish and
English. He also educated them in geography, history, mathematics, industrial work,
gymnastics, and morals. Furthermore, Rizal also had salient contributions to science.
With his pupils, they explored the rich virgin land of Mindanao and examined several
specimens of animals and plants. In fact, he discovered three species of rare breed –
Draco rizali (a flying dragon), Apogonia rizali (a small beetle), and Rhacophorus rizali
(a rare frog). One little-known fact about him was that he was also an inventor. Rizal
invented a cigarette lighter he sent as a gift to Blumentritt which he called the
4 RIZAL: Module IV

“sulpukan” made up of wood, based on the principle of air compression. He also

created a machine for making bricks which could efficiently manufacture an
estimated 6,000 bricks per day. With his artistic ability, he presented himself as a
helping hand to the Sisters of Charity, mainly by painting and conceptualizing sacred
designs. Rizal also made sketches to whatever caught his attention. For instance, he
drew the three rare species he found. He also sculpted a statuette which he called
“The Mother’s Revenge”, inspired by his dog named Syria who lost his puppy, eaten by
a crocodile. In addition, Rizal also devoted his time as an agriculturist in his 16-
hectare land where he planted cacao, coffee, sugarcane, coconuts and many others.
He applied several modern methods of agriculture which he had learned from
observing farm systems in America. Aside from farming, Rizal also ventured in the
world of business. In partnership with Ramon Carreon, Rizal engaged in profitable
business such as fishing, copra, and hemp industries. His most profitable undertaking
was in the trade of hemp, where he was able to gain a huge profit. On top of these,
Rizal’s innate desire to learn different languages continued during his stay in Dapitan.
He made a comparative study of the Bisayan and Malayan languages. In total, Rizal
could speak 22 languages – Tagalog, Ilocano, Subanun, Bisayan, Spanish, Latin, Greek,
English, French, German, Arabic, Malayan, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Dutch, Catalan, Italian,
Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish, and Russian.

Rizal made salient contributions in the community development of Dapitan. The

moment he set foot on the place, he decided to improve it in the best way he can
with his God-given talents. Other than constructing a water system, he also spent
time draining the marshes to get rid of malaria that pestered Dapitan. He also
provided the town with a lighting system from the money which he had earned from
performing medical surgeries and treating his patients. Another project he had was
the beautification of Dapitan. With the help of his former Jesuit professor, Father
Sanchez, he remodelled the town plaza to enhance its beauty. Rizal even drew a
relief map of Mindanao using stones, grass, and soil.

Be all that as it may, perhaps the most interesting thing about the hero’s life in exile
was that it was during this period of solitary confinement that he fell in love with the
woman he was going to spend the remaining years of his life. Despite all his
productive activities, Rizal often remained sad and lonely during the silent hours of
the night. He was missing his family and the death of Leonor Rivera left a huge void in
his heart. However, this was eventually filled by an Irish lady of sweet eighteen, with
a “slender, a chestnut blond, with blue eyes, dressed with elegant simplicity, with an
atmosphere of light (gaiety).” Jose Rizal met Josephine Bracken while he was the
famous ophthalmic surgeon of Dapitan. The latter came from Hong Kong to the
Philippines to accompany his foster father, Mr. George Taufer who was blind at the
time. The two fell in love with each other at first sight and after a month of a
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whirlwind romance, they decided to marry. There were a lot of objections in their
love affair. Mr. Taufer did not give them his blessing and no priest would marry the
two. As a result, Jose and Josephine exchanged their vows and married themselves
before the eyes of God. In 1896, the two were extremely happy as Josephine was
expecting a baby. Unfortunately, she gave birth to a premature child who had lived
for only three hours. Rizal’s lost son was named “Francisco” in honor of his father and
was buried in Dapitan.

In his stay in Dapitan, Rizal remained friends and in close contact with Ferdinand
Blumentritt who advised him to volunteer as a physician in the war-ridden Cuba. The
period of the hero’s exile was also the peak of the Cuban revolution. Due to the
shortage of physicians, Rizal offered himself as a military doctor to be an aid to the
Spanish forces and Cuban civilians. Rizal wrote a letter to Governor-General Ramon
Blanco on December 17, 1895 to render his medical services to Cuba. The response
arrived, dated July 2nd of 1896 but he had only received it by the 30th of July,
notifying him of the acceptance of his gallant offer. The next day, the hero’s life in
exile has ended. He embarked on board of the streamer España accompanied by
Josephine, Narcisa and her daughter Angelica, three nephews, and six of his pupils.
Unfortunately, he missed the ship, Isla de Luzon, for Spain. He took the Spanish
cruiser Castilla instead, as ordered by Governor-General Blanco. Unknown to Rizal,
this was all part of an orchestrated grand betrayal. He was dumbfounded but it was
all too late to realize that he has fallen into a trap. He wrote a letter to Blumentritt
informing him of his situation and forewarning him of what might happen next.

Nevertheless, the life of the hero in exile for four years has been proven to be
fruitful, evidenced by his several achievements and inventions. His four-year stay in
Dapitan was marked with productivity. Jose Rizal turned himself to become a helping
hand in order to enhance Dapitan.
6 RIZAL: Module IV

LEARNING ACTIVITY

In the reading that you had, do you think the accusations against Jose Rizal are
enough to put him in prison? Justify your answer by citing examples that happened in
today’s society that is very much alike to what happened to Rizal.

To be able to extract the root of Rizal’s sudden execution and frame a justifiable
judgement, we ought to study the factors and the overall environmental context that
led to his execution. At the time of Rizal’s trial, the Spaniards were suppressing a
rebellion that broke out in one of their colonies – the Cuban revolution is often
described as the crucible of the Spanish empire for it has put Spain into a critical test.
The outbreak of an uprising had placed the Hispanic monarchy into a lot of pressure.
Spain was having such a difficult time and hence, unable to afford another rebellion.
Thus, in an attempt to prevent any more of its colonies to rebel, Spain needed a
sacrificial lamb. As it turned out, Jose Rizal, as the leading active voice of reform
against Spanish authorities, became the fall guy and the perfect lamb to slaughter.

In perspective, Spain tried to make an example of Rizal to instill fear among people.
The accusations charged against Rizal were merely accusations with no adequate basis
as evidence to put him in prison. Hence, the trial of the Filipino hero was a form of
injustice and misrule. It was a kangaroo court prejudged by a military judicature
instead of civilian, in favour of the Spanish plot. As a result, despite showing a
justifiably fair performance against the allegations thrown at Rizal, the insufficient
evidences of the prosecution were accepted while the strong arguments of the
defense were rejected. The evidences presented against Rizal were of two kinds –
documentary and testimonial. The former consisted of a variety of letters written by
different individuals including Rizal - masonic documents, poems written by Rizal, and
several transcript of speeches during gatherings. However, none of these documents
were sufficient enough to prove that Rizal orchestrated an uprising. Hence, they
turned into Rizal’s associates and friends, arresting and torturing them one by one to
incriminate him, including his own brother, Paciano, but like a hero, his spirit never
gave in to turn against his younger brother. However, the others were not able to
endure the pain of torture and have succumbed into testifying against Rizal. The
testimonial evidence consisted of the oral testimonies of Martin Constantino, Aguedo
del Rosario, Jose Reyes, Moises Salvador, Jose Dizon, Domingo Franco, Deodato
Arellano, Ambrosio Salvador, Pedro Serrano Laktaw, Dr. Pio Valenzuela, Antonio
Salazar, Francisco Quison, and Timoteo Paez. However, Rizal was deprived of his right
to confront these people who testified against him.

All in all, Rizal has been guilty of a crime he didn’t commit. In his defense, the
evidences presented against him have not been proven by any means – ocular
7 RIZAL: Module IV

inspection, credible witness, expert opinion, confession of the accused, official

documents or conclusive evidences (Guerrero, 1998). However, these charges didn’t
matter if they were enough or not to put him in prison. His case was prejudged and he
was considered guilty even before the conduct of the actual trial. Moreover, he was
deprived of his right to face the witnesses and the right to a civilian court trial. In
addition, the witnesses were forced and brutally tortured, hence, their testimonies
should not have been considered valid and credible.

Some notable occurrences in today’s society appear to be very much alike to what
happened to Rizal. Cases of injustice such as Rizal’s trial are still present up to this
day. And if Rizal is still alive today, he would’ve immediately been RED-TAGGED.
“Red-tagging” has been one of the rampant tactics of the Duterte administration to
silence their opposition whereby individuals are marked as terrorists without
substantial proof. Today, a tagging spree has led to several unlawful detentions and
human rights abuses especially with the President authorizing extrajudicial and
vigilante killings. Several activists, indigenous leaders, labor groups, doctors, human
rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, and even celebrities who spoke their mind
against the oppressive system of the administration have been marked red by
authorities to be a part of the communist insurgency of the Philippines, as paved by
the Anti-Terrorism Law, urged and approved by the President as part of his objective
to suppress rebellion and communists. One of them is popular actress Liza Soberano
and Angel Locsin who were allegedly red-tagged and forewarned of suffering a similar
fate to those who were killed during military ops for having been accused as a
member of the New People’s Army (NPA). On a different agenda, Duterte’s war
against drugs has curtailed thousands of lives in a blink of an eye without due process
and gathered evidences that would be substantial enough to prove them guilty of the
drug crime. The case of Kian delos Santos has stirred mass hysteria and became a
good case of injustice where a teenager was shot out of a mistaken identity in the
middle of a killing spree.

Just like Rizal, the victims of red-tagging and extrajudicial killings have been
incarcerated, tortured, and executed without proper trial and sufficient evidence.
They suffered the consequence of speaking out their mind and exposing the truth
against the oppressive administration and the corrupt, incompetent authorities behind
it.