Rizal in Dapitan

July 1892-July 1896

Arrival In Manila
 Jose Rizal’s arrives in Manila on June, 1892 had become very sensational among
the Filipinos.
 Rizal stayed in Manila and went to Malacanan to see Governor Despujol.
 Rizal met with some Filipinos consisting of Apolinario Mabini, Andres Bonifacio,
Timoteo Paez, Pedro Serrano, Ambrosio Salvador and Deodato Arellano.
 July 3, 1892 he founded the LA LIGA FILIPINAin the house of Doroteo Ongjunco in
Tondo, Manila.
 “Unus Instar Omnium” (One like all)
 He was arrested on July 7, 1892 because of a pamphlet he allegedly wrote
entitled POBRES FRAILES.
 POBRES FRAILES published under the name of P. Jacinto and the pamphlet was
found in the luggage of his sister Lucia.
 Rizal was immediately placed under arrest and deported to Mindanao.
 He was detained in Fort Santiago for nine days before being shipped to Dapitan
on July 15, 1892.

Rizal was arrested by the Spanish authorities in four grounds:

1. For publishing anti-Catholic and anti-friar books ad articles.
2. For having in possession a bundle of handbills, the Pobres Frailes, in which
advocacies were in violation of the Spanish orders.
3. For dedicating his novel El Filibusterismo to the three traitors (Gomez. Burgos
and Zamora).
4. For simple criticizing the religion and aiming for its exclusion from the Filipino
culture.

Why Dapitan?
• A politico-military outpost of the Spaniards in the Philippines.
• Forefronts of Spanish culture, religion, and civilization in Muslim Mindanao.
• Headed by a politico-military commander and with a parish priest, tasked with
the conversion of the island into Catholicism.
• Swampy with unplanned streets but his land was fertile.
• No proper medical services by the authorities.
• Primitive agriculture, with an undeveloped fishing industry.

Arrival In Dapitan
 Rizal arrived in Dapitan on July 17, 1892.
  From that day until July 1896, Dapitan became the bare witness to one of the
most fruitful periods in Rizal’s life.

Beginning of Exile in Dapitan

Father Superior Pastells informed Father Obach that Rizal could live at the parish
convent on the following conditions:
1. “That Rizal publicly retract his errors concerning religion, and make statements
that were clearly pro-Spanish and against revolution.”
2. “That he perform the church rites and make a general confession of his past life.”
3. “That henceforth he conduct himself in an exemplary manner as a Spanish
subject and a man of religion.”
• Rizal did not agree with these conditions.

Captain Ricardo Carnicero

- Rizal was placed under his supervision. He is the politico military commander of
the town.
- Rizal decided to live with him.
- Both men enjoyed each other’s company and became good friends.
 Rizal and Carnicero betted on the lottery and won a thousand pesos. With his
share, Rizal bought land in nearby barrio Talisay.
 He build his clinic and farm.
 On, May 4, 1893, Carnicero was replaced by Captain Juan Sitges.

Captain Juan Sitges

- He was a sterner commander and a married man compared to Carnicero who
was single.
- Sitges changed his attitude and restored the privileges Rizal enjoyed under
Carnicero.

Rizal-Pastells Debate on Religion

Fr. Pablo Pastells
- Rizal had a scholarly debate with him regarding religion.
- A Jesuit who tried his best to win Rizal back to the Church.

Rizal Challenges a Frenchman to a Duel

- He became involved in a quarrel with a French acquaintance in Dapitan, Mr. Juan
Lardet, a businessman.

Fr. Francisco de Paulo Sanchez

- Old professor of Rizal at Ateneo .
- While staying in Dapitan, the Catholic Church tried to win him back.
 - The Jesuits sent his professor to entice him back to the Church.
- With the help of Fr. Francisco, Rizal built a relief map of Mindanao near the
Dapitan Church.

Rizal’s encounter with the Friar’s Spy

• His blissful life was then suddenly jolted by a strange incident involving a spy of
the friars.
• “Pablo Mercado”
• Secretly visited Rizal at his house on the night of November 3, 1893.
• “Florencio Namanan”
- He was hired by the Recollect friars to a secret mission in Dapitan.

Careers and Contributions

Rizal had maximized his stay in Dapitan by devoting much of his time in improving his:
 artistic and literary skills
 Doing agricultural and civic projects
 Engaging business activities
 Writing letter to his friends in Europe
- Ferdinand Blumentritt
- Reinhold Rost

His careers and achievements in different fields were as follows:

As a PHYSICIAN
- Rizal provided free medicine to his patients, most of them were underprivileged.
Wealthy patients:
 Don Ignacio Tumarong
 An Englishman
 Don Francisco Azcarraga
 August 1893 – Dona Teodora Alonzo was placed under ophthalmic surgery for
the third time.
As an Educator
- He established a school in Dapitan which was attended by 16 young boys from
prominent families
- He taught them reading, writing in English and Spanish, Geography, History,
Mathematics, Industrial work, Nature study, Morals and
As an Engineer
- He constructed a waterworks system in Dapitan.
- Beautification of the town proper of Mindanao.
As an agriculturist
 - Rizal devoted time in planting important crops and fruit-bearing trees in his 16-
hectare land.
- He imported agricultural machinery and introduced to the native farmers of
Dapitan.
As a businessman
- The adventurous Rizal with his partner, Ramon Carreon, tried his luck in the fishing,
hemp and copra industries.
Copra;
- is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted.
Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil,
also known as copra oil, is pressed out.
Logs:
- Mr. Juan Lardet
- a French businessman purchased logs from Rizal's lands of whichsome are of
poor quality.
As an artist
- He made sketches of anything which attracted him in Dapitan.
Title: Dapitan church curtains
Material: Oil
Remarks: Made in Dapitan, 1894 
As a linguist
- Rizal was interested in the language used in Dapitan.
- He studied and made comparisons of the Bisayan and Malayan languages existing
in the region.
- He is known to be fluent in 22 languages
Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, German, Portuguese, Italian, English, Dutch, Japanese,
Arabic, Swedish, Russian, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit; and the local languages
Malay, Chavacano, Visayan, Ilocano and Subanun
As a SCIENTIST
- Rizal shared his interest with nature to his students.
- They explored the jungles and searched for specimens which he sent to museum
in Europe.

Discovery of three species:

1. Draco rizali 2. Apogonia rizali 3.Rhacophorus rizali
-Flying dragon – Small beetle – Rare frog
Ang huling pag-ibig ni Rizal
Josephine Bracken
- 18 yrs old, slender, a chestnut blond, with blue eyes, dressed with elegant
simplicity, with an atmosphere of light.
- She arrived in Dapitan in February 1895, with his blind foster, father George
Taufer, and a Filipina named Manuela Orlac.
• Rizal and Bracken instantly fell in love with each other an in just one month.
• They tried to have themselves married in Catholic rites but Fr. Obach required
that Rizal retract his beliefs first against the Church.
• Rizal’s relatives, friends and sister dislike Josephine.
• Despite the opposition, Rizal considered Josephine as his true wife.
• In 1986, their love bear its fruit- Josephine was pregnant.
• Bracken gave birth to a one-month premature baby boy who lived only for three
hours.
• Francisco- Rizal’s son who was buried in Dapitan.

Katipunan seek Rizal’s Advice

• Andres Bonifacio, seek the advice of Jose Rizal.
• The group agree to send Dr. Pio Valenzuela as a representative to Dapitan who
will inform Rizal of their plan.
Rizal outspokenly objected Bonifacio’s “premature” idea for two reasons:
1. The Filipinos were still unready for such bloody revolution; and
2. The Katipunan lacked machinery- before plotting a revolution, there must be
sufficient arms and funds collected.

As a volunteer in Cuba
• Rizal offered his services as a military doctor to compromise with the shortage of
physicians in the said country.
• December 17, 1895
- Rizal sent a letter to Governor General Ramon Blanco rendering his service for
Cuba.
• July 30, 1896
- Rizal received a letter from the governor, dated July 2, 1896, accepting his offer.

Farewell in Dapitan
• Midnight of July 31, 1896
- Jose Rizal left Dapitan on board the steamer Espana, together with Narcisa,
Josephine, Angelica (Narcisa’s daughter), three nephews and six of his students.

Rizal’s literary works when he was in Dapitan

 • El Canto del Viajero (Song of the Traveler)
• Hymn to Talisay
• Mi Retiro (My Retreat)
• A Ricardo Carnicero
• A Josefina

Memorable places in Dapitan

 In front of the church, Rizal and Father Sanchez made a huge relief map of
Mindanao out of earth, stones and grass. This map still adorns the town plaza of
Dapitan.

 St. James Church

- is located across the Relief Map of Mindanao, and used to be Rizal's place of
worship.

 Casa Cuadrada (Replica of the Pupils' Dormitory and Workshop

- Rizal effected the construction of the house to accommodate the growing
number of pupils in his Talisay School. 

 Casa Redonda (Replica of the Octagonal Clinic of Rizal)

- The octagonal hut served as Rizal's clinic and as dormitory of some of his pupils. 

 Constructed by Rizal in 1895 with the help of his pupils, the water system
provided adequate year-round water supply for Rizal's farm and household
needs.

 Lover’s Rock
- Because they could not be married in a church, Rizal and Josephine Bracken
exchanged vows on this rock. Rizal and Josephine fell in love with each other at
first sight.  

 Rizal’s dam in Dapitan still showed some of the names of his students, carved into
the fresh cement when it was first built.