Due to the prior publication of Rizal's first novel, Noli Me Tangere, and the uproar it caused among the

friars, Rizal’s family, in-laws, and friends (especially Paciano Rizal, Silvestre Ubaldo, and Jose “Chengoy”
M. Cecilio) had begun to worry about his safety and the potential risk that could also arise from his
return. But despite these worries, Dr. Jose Rizal still acted indifferently and become more determined to
return to his motherland.

Tanguan (2015) stated that the initial reason for his return was to prove that there is no reason to fear
going home. However, as time went on, Dr. Jose Rizal's intentions of going home become clearer.

And by the day of August 5, 1887, Rizal finally made his first homecoming to the Philippines and,
according to Capellan (2022), it was due to the following reasons:

1. To use his ophthalmology degree to operate on his mother's ailing eye cataracts.
2. To serve the Filipino people who had been long oppressed by the Spanish government.
3. To know the influence of his published novel on the Filipinos and Spaniards in the country; and, of
course, according to Limos (2018), was...
4. To know the reason why Leonor Rivera went silent as he learned that she was no longer sending
letters to him.

According to Limos (2018) , the reason why Dr. Jose Rizal stopped receiving letters from Leonor
Rivera was the intervention of her mother, Silvestra Bauzon, in the delivery of letters done by the
local postman. At that time, Silvestra Bauzon had already met with Henry Charles Kipping, a favored,
English railway engineer whom Bauzon secretly allowed to be married to Rivera.

Note: Upon leaving Europe, Dr. Jose Rizal’s route to Manila started by leaving Rome by train to the
Marseilles port in France and boarded Djemnah, the same steamboat that bought him to Europe. The
aforementioned ship reached Aden, Yemen for a brief stop because of the bad weather. And after
stopping, Djemnah continued its voyage and arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam) and from there,
he took another steamboat, namely Haiphong, that finally brought him to manila (AMA University, n.d.).

Route: Rome, Italy > Marseilles, France > Aden, Yemen > Saigon, Vietnam, Manila, Philippines

3 days passed, and Dr. Jose Rizal finally made his official homecoming to his home province at
Calamba, Laguna. His family wholly welcomed him although there are still hints of them worrying over
Rizal's safety in the forms of the precautions they also had to do that time.

According to Capellan (2022), the first thing that Dr. Jose Rizal did there was to establish a medical
clinic. That clinic made Rizal's Mother, Teodora Alonso, its first patient as it was inclined to the first
purpose of Rizal's homecoming. However, it was said that Dr. Jose Rizal did not manage to operate on
his mother's eye immediately as her eye cataracts are not fully ripe yet. Despite this, news of him being
the arrived great doctor spread like wildfire and it was that time when he also become known as
“Doctor Uliman” because of the country he went to before his homecoming: Germany. The established
medical clinic also become lucrative, knowing that he earned 900 pesos in a few months and 5000
pesos worth of medical fees by February 1888.

Aside from that, Dr. Jose Rizal’s homecoming was also famous for the uproarious events in his first
published novel. One event tells a story about him being summoned to the Malacañang Palace by
Governor-General Emilio Terrero through a letter. The reason for the meeting was to confirm whether
the news of Rizal’s first published novel, Noli Me Tangere, containing subversive ideas was true. And
upon investigation, it was said denied by Rizal and he stated, that he merely “exposed the truth.”

Convinced of what Dr. Jose Rizal said, the said governor-general become rather curious and decided to
ask him for a copy of the said novel so that he could read it. But, unfortunately, the only copy that he
brought from Germany was given to a friend. However, he promised to give one to the governor-general
in the future. He, later on, read the Noli and eventually become more convinced of the fact that there is
“nothing wrong with the published Novel.”

Governor-General Emilio Terrero was a liberal Spaniard and knew that Rizal’s life was at stake because
of the friars who are still questioning the subversiveness of the novel. As a security measure, he asked a
young Spanish Lieutenant, named Don Jose Taviel De Andrade, to be Rizal’s bodyguard for the time
being.

However, despite this, the storm over Noli Me Tangere did not only stop from there as the Archbishop
of Manila, Monsignor Pedro Payo, sent a copy of the said novel to Father Rector Gregorio Echavarria of
the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for examination by the committee of the said university’s faculty. A
report was made upon examination and it was immediately sent to the Governor-General for
reconsideration. It was stated that “Noli Me Tangere was heretical, impious, and scandalous in the
religious order, injurious to the Spanish government and its function to the Philippine islands in the
political order.”

Governor-General Emilio Terrero was still dissatisfied with the report as he knew that the Dominicans
are very prejudiced against Rizal at the beginning. And because of this, he instead sent the novel to the
Permanent Commission of Censorship for another examination. And, similarly to the Dominican friars, a
report draft was made by its head, Father Salvador Font: an Augustinian priest of Tondo, and was sent
again to the governor-general, stating that “the importation, reproduction, and circulation of this
pernicious and malicious book in the islands are absolutely prohibited.”

Days passed after the publication of Noli Me Tangere and the number of its attackers also increased as
well. The other famous attackers, according to Capellan (2022), were Father Jose Rodriguez, General
Jose de Salamanca, General Luis M. de Pando, Señor Fernando Vida, and Vicente Barrantes.

The number of defenders had also increased and decided to join the controversy. They were Marcelo H.
del Pilar, Dr. Antonio Maria Regidor, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce, Father Francisco de Paula
Sanchez, Don Segismundo Moret, Dr. Miguel Morayta, and Reverend Father Vicente Garcia, who is a
Filipino priest and scholar.

References:

AMA Computer University (n.d.) A Delightful Trip to Manila. Course Hero. Retrieved February 23, 2023,
from https://www.coursehero.com/file/p3simnp/Delightful-Trip-to-Manila-Rizal-left-Rome-by-
the-train-for-Marseilles-a-French/.

Capellan, L. (2022). Rizal’s First Homecoming. Studocu. Retrieved February 23, 2023, from
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/technological-university-of-the-philippines/bachelor-
 of-engineering-technology-major-in-electronic-communications-technology/rizals-first-
homecoming/28343917.

Limos, M. (2018, June 12). Leonor Rivera: The Tragic Story of Jose Rizal's Most Significant Love and
Heartbreak. Esquire. Retrieved from https://www.esquiremag.ph/the-good-life/pursuits/leonor-
rivera-the-tragic-story-of-jose-rizal-s-most-significant-love-and-heartbreak-a1957-20180612-
lfrm2.

Tanguan, D. (2015, January 18). Rizal’s First Homecoming. Slide Share. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/abasacmad/unknown-parameter-value-43627772.