The Philippines is remembered throughout history as the site of

Asia's first anti-colonial uprising. The Philippine Revolution was a long

journey, and its victory may be attributed to a large number of people
who fought bravely against the Spaniards rather than to a single
person. Jose Rizal was a revolutionary hero in the Philippines. He is
regarded as a national

hero by the Filipinos. His writings awoke his
countrymen and inspired them to launch Southeast Asia's first anti-
colonial movement. One of the most intriguing issues was Jose Rizal's
retraction, which was all about his conversion to the Catholic faith.

Father Vicente Balaguer testified that he accepted a shorter

retraction paper produced by the head of the Philippine Jesuit
Society. Rizal penned his retraction after making minor changes to the
text, in which he disavowed Masonry and theological ideas that were
contrary to Catholic belief. On December 29, 1896, Father Balaguer
stated that he spoke with Rizal three times. The first time was in the
morning, and it was around this time that he presented Rizal with the
retraction template, which he did not sign. Father Balaguer also
claimed to be one of Rizal's afternoon visitors in his affidavit. He spent
a lot of time with him, and Rizal signed his retraction letter on this day.
 In this issue of Rizal’s alleged retraction incident, the previously
mentioned indicates the belief of Rizal not committing such
declaration of withdrawal and confession. While the other stands for
the contradicting, that of which claims Rizal of actually signing a
statement of his retraction. There are sources indicating that there are
proofs of Rizal not actually retracting. An example of such is his burial.
He was not buried in
a catholic cemetery and was listed as suicide or a
criminal case, a neglected body along with the heaps of cadaver with
unknown causes
If he did retract, then the church, claiming his retraction and his
reconciliation with the religion, would have a decency of giving him a
proper catholic burial and declare his death under the list of
Catholics, to acknowledge the confession the friars claimed they
witnessed Rizal committed. The alleged retraction papers also only
were revealed about thirty years after Rizal’s death. A matter of
concern was uprooted when two statements of declaration were
recognized, both of which had a great deal of differences. Some claim
that the original copy aged and rotted in grasp of the Spanish Catholic
friars.