Chapter 9 - First Return to the

Philippines
As soon Rizal arrived in Manila, aboard
the steamer Haiphong after five years in
Europe, he began receiving anonymous
letters and advices from unknown
persons and from his friends, warning him
of the dangers he was facing. He knew the
methods of the friars in the Philippines.
Rizal stayed only for a few days in Manila,
for he was anxious to be with his family.
 Decision to Return Home
He went to Calamba, arrived with a grand
event and asked the forgiveness of his parents.
Rizal’s decision to return home were:
 Operate on his mother’s eyes.
 Serve his people who had long been oppressed
by Spanish tyrants.
 Find out for himself how the Noli Me Tangere
and his other writings were affecting Filipinos and
Spaniards in the Philippines.
 Know why Leonor Rivera stopped
communicating with him.
 The Homecoming
In Calamba, Rizal decided to practice his
profession as ophthalmologist in order to earn
and not be a burden to his family. The first
surgical operation he performed was on his
mother, Teodora, for the removal of her
cataract
The operation was successful. The clients
began to troop in, progressively increasing
numbers.
 Life in Calamba
With true missionary spirit, Rizal charged fees
in accordance with the financial capacity of each
patient. Rizal, who came to be called “Doctor
Uliman” because he came from Germany.
Rizal did not selfishly devoted all his time to
enriching himself. He opened a gymnasium for
young people who enjoying gambling and
cockfights. He discouraged this young people by
introducing sports like gymnastics, fencing and
shooting which he learned when he was in
Europe.
 Failure to see Leonor Rivera
Leonor Rivera had left for Dagupan, Rizal
failed to see her. Rizal tried to go to Dagupan,
but his parents forbade him to go because
Leonor’s mother did not like him for a son-in-law.
He respected the decision of the mother of
Leonor with a heavy heart and bowed to his
parent’s wish.
His fame, however, was due not only to his
being a good doctor and surgeon but also
extended to the political arena. He was branded
by his enemies, especially the Spaniards and friars
because of his novel Noli which was branded to
contain subversive ideas.
 Storm over the Noli
Governor General Emilio Terrero,
who was a liberal-minded Spaniard, requested
Rizal to come in Malacanang. Rizal went to
Malacanang and explained to the Governor
General that he merely exposed the truth, but
did not advocate subversive ideas to his novel.
The Governor General asked for a copy of
Noli but he had copy then so he rush out
looking for a copy, but nobody wanted to part
with his.
 He asked the Jesuits, his former professors-
Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, Fr. Jose
Bech and Fr. Federico Faura, who also refused.
Finally, he came up with a dirty copy from a friend
and gave it to the governor-general.
The governor, taking this into account, and in
view of the anti-Rizal actions, decided to have him
accompanied by a guardia civil.
Assigned to guard him was Lieutenant Jose
Taviel de Andrade, who belonged to a noble
family. He spoke English, French and Spanish.
 The Committee Report
Governor General Terrero read the Noli and
apparently did not find anything excessive in it.
To calm the anger aroused to the friars especially
the Dominicans, he sent a copy to the Father
Gregorio Echavarria-Rector of the University of
Sto. Tomas and Archbishop of Manila-Msgr. Pedro
Payo to make a report on the novel.
They extract the following:
“The work Noli Me Tangere has been found heretical,
impious and scandalous from the religious perspective, anti-
patriotic and subversive from the political point of view,
injurious to the Spanish government and its proceedings in
the Islands.”
 Attackers of Noli
 The Agustinian, Fr. Salvador Font describing
Rizal as ignorant, recommended that “the
importation, reprinting and circulation of this
destructive book in the Islands be prohibited”.
The banning of the Noli only served to
make it popular. News about the great book
spread among the masses.
 Another Agustinian, Fr. Jose Rodriguez,
Prior of Guadalupe, published a series of
eight pamphlets entitled “Questions of
Supreme Interest” (Cuestiones de Sumo
Interes) to blast the Noli and other anti-
Spanish writings.
 Titles of the Eight Pamphlets
 Why should I not Read Them?
 Beware of Them. Why?
 And What Can You Tell Me of Plague?
 Why Do the Impious Triumph?
 Do You Think There is Really No
Purgatory?
 Is There or Is There No Hell?
 What Do You Think of These Libels?
 Confession or Damnation?
 Senators at the Spanish Cortes:
◦ General Jose de Salamanca
◦ General Luis M. de Pando
◦ Sr. Fernando Vida
 The Spanish Academician:
◦ Vicente Barrantes – bitterly criticized Noli
in an article published in La España Moderna
(a newspaper in Madrid) in Januar, 1890.
 Defenders of Noli
 Filipino Reformists in Spain
◦ Marcelo H. Del Pilar
◦ Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor
◦ Graciano Lopez Jaena
◦ Mariano Ponce
 Father Sanchez – Rizal’s favorite professor
 Don Segismundo Moret – former Minister of
the Crown
 Dr. Miguel Morayta – historian and statesman
 Professor Blumentritt – scholar and director
 A brilliant defense of the Noli came from
unexpected source:
 Rev. Vicente Garcia,
◦ a Filipino Catholic priest scholar, a theologist of
the Manila Cathedral and a Tagalog translator of
the famous “Imitation of Christ” by Thomas
Kempis.
◦ he used the penname “ Justo Desiderio
Magalang”, wrote a defense of the Noli which
was published in Singapore.
 The Arguments of Fr. Garcia
He blasted the arguments as follows:
 Rizal cannot be an “ignorant man”, because he
was a graduate of Spanish universities and was a
recipient of scholastic honors.
 Rizal does not attack the Church and Spain
because what Rizal attacked in the Noli were the
bad Spanish officials and not Spain and the bad
and corrupt friars and not the church.
 It was said that those who read the Noli commit
a mortal sin, since the attacker had read the
novel, therefore he also commits a mortal sin.
 Rizal and Taviel de Andrade
 Between Rizal and his body guard in
Calamba, Lt. Jose Taviel de Andrade, a
beautiful friendship bloomed.
 They made walking tours of the verdant
country sides, discussing topics of common
interest, and enjoyed fencing, shooting,
hunting and painting.
 Lt. Andrade became a great admirer of the
man he was ordered to watch and protect.
 An Unfortunate Event
 What marred Rizal’s happy days in Calamba
with Andrade were:
◦ The death of his older sister, Olimpia, and
◦ The groundless tales circulated by his enemies
that he was:
 “A German spy”
 “An agent of Bismark”
 “A Protestant”
 “A Mason”
 “A Witch”
 “A Soul Beyond Salvation”
 Calamba’s Agrarian Trouble
 Governor General Terrero, influenced by certain
facts in Noli, ordered a government investigation of
the friar estates in connection with land taxes and
with tenant relations.
 The Calamba folks solicited Rizal’s help in gathering
facts and listing their grievances against the
hacienda management.
 Rizal wrote down his findings which the tenants
and three of the officials of the hacienda signed on
January 8, 1898:
 The Findings
 The hacienda of the Dominican Order comprised the
entire town of Calamba.
 The profits of the Dominican Order continually increased
because of the arbitrary increase of the rentals paid by the
tenants.
 The hacienda owner never contributed for the
improvement of agriculture.
 Tenants who had spent much labor in clearing the lands
were dispossessed of said lands for flimsy reasons.
 High rates of interests were charged the tenants for
delayed payment of rentals.
 Farewell Calamba
 As the days passed, the atmosphere became
more and more unbearable for Rizal.
◦ The friars exerted pressure on Malacañan Palace.
◦ Anonymous threats against Rizal’s life were
received by his parents.
◦ The alarmed parents, relatives and friends
(including Lt. Taviel de Andrade) advised him to go
away, for his life was in danger
.
 The Governor General’s Advise
 One day, Governor General Terrero
summoned Rizal and “advised” him to leave
the Philippines for his own good. He was
giving Rizal a chance to escape the fury of the
friar’s wrath.
 This time Rizal had to go. He could not very
well disobey the governor general’s veiled
orders. But he was not running like a coward
from a fight.
 Reasons for Leaving the Country:
 (1) His presence in Calamba was
jeopardizing the safety and happiness of his
family and friends and,
 (2) He could fight better his enemies and
serve his country’s cause with greater
efficacy by writing in foreign countries.
 A Poem for Lipa
Before Rizal left Calamba in 1888 his friend
from Lipa requested him to write a poem in
commemoration of Lipa’s elevation from a town
to a city.
Rizal’s declaration of patriotism is total. He
raised another educative challenge, this time for
his people to assume their distinctive roles in
promoting their country’s progress through the
dignity of labor and industry.
The message of the poem entitled Hymn to
Labor, “work hard for the Motherland and respect
the dignity of labor”.