Midterm Reviewer for Life and Works of Rizal

A. Lesson 1: The Study of Rizal in Historical and Critical Approach

• The teaching of Jose Rizal’s life, works, and writings is mandated by Republic Act 1425, otherwise known as the

Rizal Law.

• Senator Jose P. Laurel, the person who sponsored the said law, said that since Rizal was the founder of

Philippine nationalism and has contributed much to the current standing of this nation, it is only right that the

youth as well as all the people in the country know about and learn to imbibe the great ideals for which he died.

• Rizal's pre-eminence is derived from the very fact that he validated all his political and civic virtues.

• According to Nick Joaquin, Rizal was greatly aggrieved by his physique. When Rizal was young, he was always

teased by his sisters because of his frail body and often described as a very tiny child with a disproportionately

big head that he carried even in his adulthood.

• Rizal's inferiority complexes were not without positive side. it is his feelings of inadequacy that made him

dynamic and he continually looked for ways to be better than others.

• There’s no existing law or executive order saying Rizal is our national hero. He is not our de jure (according to

rightful entitlement or claim; by right) national hero.

B. Lesson 2: Jose Rizal’s Genealogy and Early Education

• Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, “known to a child of a good family” was born on June 19, 1861

between eleven o’clock and twelve o’clock at night, a few days before the full moon in Calamba, on the

southwest shore of the picturesque Laguna de Bay some forty miles south of Manila.

• Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan. It was a typical schooling that a son of an ilustrado family

received during his time, characterized by the four R’s- reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion.

• The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was a remarkable woman of good character and fine culture. On

her lap, he learned at the age of three the alphabet and the prayers.

• As Jose grew older, his parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at home. The first was Maestro

Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an old man named Leon Monroy, a former classmate of

Rizal’s father, became the boy’s tutor.

• Rizal loved to go to church to pray, to take part in novenas, and to join the religious processions. It is said that he

was so seriously devout that he was laughingly called Manong Jose by the Hermanos and Hermanas Terceras.

C. Lesson 3: Rizal’s Education and Career

• Ateneo was considered the finest school in the Philippines because of the rigorous intellectual standards of the

Jesuits. It was in this environment that Jose Rizal began the education that would solidify his political thoughts.
 Students in Ateneo were divided in to two empires known as Roman Empire and Carthaginian Empire. Each

empire represents the location where students came from.

• Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez remarked that he was becoming proficient in the language. At this point,

Rizal began writing in Spanish. Most of his famous works were written in that language. It was Father Sanchez

who recognized Rizal’s talent as a poet and encouraged him to practice this craft.

• Father Jose Villaclara who instructed Rizal in the sciences and philosophy. He was a young man who believed

that Rizal was wasting his time with poetry. He developed a scientific curiosity in young Rizal that lasted until his

death. It was Father Villaclara who convinced Rizal to take a “scientific attitude” about life.

• Ambeth Ocampo, Filipino revisionist historian, is a popular writer and general debunker of local history, suggests

that Rizal was not a good student. However, he looked into Ateneo archives and found that Rizal was an

excellent student. Rizal stood out as a student leader and a national spokesperson, because he had the ability to

talk to the average Filipino.

• An examination of Rizal’s student memoirs, as well as his diaries, suggest that the Ateneo years was the

formative ones. Eventually, Rizal would excel as a scientist, a fiction writer, a nationalist and a medical doctor. All

these would have been impossible without his early education

• Rizal, upon entering the university, was not certain which course of study he wanted to pursue.

• The Jesuit priests who had been his former mentors had advised him to take up farming, or to join the order and

be a man of the cloth. However, his tastes went towards law, literature, or medicine

• Rizal decided to sign up for Philosophy and Letters during his freshman year because of the following reasons:

➢ It was what his father would have wanted for him

➢ He had failed to seek the advice of the rector of the Ateneo, Father Ramon Pablo.

• Rizal's performance at the University of Santo Tomas was not as excellent as his time at then Ateneo. His grades

after shifting to medicine had suffered as well

• After completing his first year Rizal decided to take up medicine as his university course. This change of heart

was due to two factors:

➢ Father Ramon Pablo, rector of the Ateneo, had advised him to pursue the course

➢ Rizal's mother had failing eyesight and he thought he owed it to her to become a doctor and cure her

condition

D. Lesson 4: Rizal’s Travels Abroad

• After several years of medical study at the University of Santo Tomás, he went to Spain in 1882 to finish his

studies at the University of Madrid.

 • Other important Propagandists included Graciano Lopez Jaena, a noted orator and pamphleteer who had left the

islands for Spain in 1880 after the publication of his satirical short novel, Fray Botod (Brother Fatso), an

unflattering portrait of a provincial friar.

• In 1887, Rizal returned briefly to the islands, but because of the furor surrounding the appearance of Noli Me

Tangere the previous year, he was advised by the governor to leave

• He enrolled in a course in medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain. In June 1883, he traveled to

France to observe how medicine was being practiced there.

• Rizal arrived in England in May 1888. In August, he was admitted to the British Museum, where he copied

Antonio de Morga’s massive study of the Philippines, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, which Rizal later annotated

for publication “as a gift to the Filipinos.” In the museum he devoted his time reading all the sources on Philippine

history that he could find.

• During the first travel of Rizal abroad, he published his first novel known as “Noli Me Tangere”. While on his

second travel abroad, he published his second novel known as “El Filibusterismo”.

E. Lesson 5: Rizal’s Novels (Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo)

• Read the two novels chapter by chapter. You may use your copy of your Assignment on Lesson 5 to study.

F. Lesson 6: Rizal as a Political Philosopher and How would he criticize Today’s Society

• Rizal’s definition of government and politics focused on the Spanish influences. One of Rizal’s strongest

criticisms of Spaniards colonialization was the corruption of the bureaucracy.

• About government, Rizal wrote: “In order to govern peoples he does not know or understand, he ought to

possess the talent of a genius and extraordinary knowledge”. Rizal argued that this was necessary because the

Filipinos were gaining a new political sophistication.

• Rizal’s concept on Government and Politics: Rizal remarked that one day Filipino political leaders would finish

“arduous mission which is the formation of the Filipino nation”.

• Rizal on Political Culture: In his essay “The Indolence of the Filipinos” Rizal observed that “without education and

liberty…no reform is impossible.” Rizal explained that, the political culture not thrive in the Philippines because of

the inability of the Spanish t

• Rizal on Political Socialization: By emphasizing the importance of being a Filipino, Rizal accelerated the process

of local nationalism. His criticism of the friars and the church helped to change attitudes toward local nationalism.

• Rizal on Political Ideology: In Rizal’s novel Noli Me tangere, he wrote: ….we are speaking of the present

condition of the Philippines…yes, we are entering upon a period of strife…the strife is between the past, which

seizes and strives with curses to cling to the tottering feudal castles, and the future, whose some of triumph may
 be heard from afar. Bringing the message of good news from other land.” As a passionate supporter of a new

Philippine nation, Rizal introduced a fierce brand of ideology which had made Filipinos among the most political

people in the world. Filipinos have carefully defined political ideology.

• Rizal on Nationalism: Rizal argued that Filipinos could only foster their own sense of nationalism by studying

history. Rizal wrote to Blumentritt: “I would stimulate these Philippine studies.” and concluded that history

provided “the true concept of one’s self and drove nations to do great things.” Foremost is that he is the dominant

national hero who, unlike all other heroes, had a firm vision of the future of the Philippines. He glorifies life in the

Philippines. Onofre D. Corpuz concludes that Rizal’s life suggest he is the “father of the country”.

• Rizal on Representative Government: Spain had granted Filipinos representation in the Spanish Cortes from May

1809 until the privilege was removed by Queen Maria Cristina in 1836. Rizal believed that the representation was

essential to the governing process. Rizal contented the representation removed the spirit of revolution.

• Rizal on Democracy: Democracy is a government in which all power is shared by citizens. The word demos is

derived from a Greek word which means people. In Rizal’s view the best government was a mixture between

representative democracy and responsible model of democracy. He believed that it would take some time for

Filipinos to actively participate in local government. The definition of democracy is found in Rizal’s mind. He

employed such definition in his writings, his public speeches, and his advocacy of Philippine democracy.

G. Lesson 7: The Liga and the Katipunan; Reform and Revolution: A Century After

• La Liga Filipina aimed to achieve the following:

➢ Union of the whole archipelago into a compact and homogenous body

➢ Mutual protection in every want and necessity

➢ Defense against all violence and injustice

➢ Encouragement of education, agriculture and commerce

➢ Study and application of reforms

• La Liga Filipina used peaceful means in attaining peace and equality for the Philippines, but it was short-lived.

This organization, however, would be a sort of mutual aid and self-help society dispensing scholarship funds and

legal aid, loaning capital and setting up cooperatives.

• La Liga Filipina, upon the arrest of Rizal, was split into 2 groups: (a) the conservatives, Cuerpo de

Compromisarios, which pledged to continue supporting La Solidaridad while (b) the radicals devoted themselves

to a new and secret society, Katipunan.

• Katipunan or Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangan Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) aimed to overthrow

the present government during the Spanish colonial period.

• Andres Bonifacio, the founder, and his revolutionary ideal become the very potent force against the Spaniards

which is why this society needed to be kept in secrecy.

• The objectives of this Katipunan involves the moral, civic, and political aspects.

• Katipunan had a proletarian authorship in which its members cannot be associated with the ilustrados due to the

risk or revealing information about their organization.

• One of the teachings of Katipunan was that all men are equal, be the color of their skin black or white. One may

be superior to another in knowledge, wealth, and beauty but cannot be superior in being. He who is noble prefers

honor to personal gains; he who is mean prefers profit to honor.

• Rizal argued for equality and human dignity within a peaceful framework. While Bonifacio believed that such

deals could be achieved only force or arms.

• Rizal was a reformist and Bonifacio was a revolutionary. But they were one in fighting for change.