CHAPTER II: 19th CENTURY
Manila, tamarind and rice, the carabao (known
PHILIPPINES AS RIZAL’S
CONTEXT
MODULE OVERVIEW
Nineteenth century is commonly depicted as
the birth of modern life. as well as the birth of
modern nation-states around the globe. The
century was also a period of massive changes
in Europe, Spain, and consequently in the
Philippines. It was during this era that the
power and glory of Spain, the Philippines'
colonizer, had waned both in its colonies and
in the world.
Discussions on the 19th century Philippines as
Rizal's context are hereby divided into three
(3) aspects: the economic, social, and political.
Under these main headings are major
historical events or issues, which
characterized the country during that era.
LEARNING CONTENTS
The Economic Context
At least four historical elements basically
compose the economic context of the era in
which Jose Rizal was born: (a) the end of the
Galleon Trade, (b) the opening of the Suez
Canal, (c) the rise of the export of the crop
economy. and (d) the established monopolies
in the Philippines.
End of Galleon Trade
Our locals were already trading with China,
Japan, Siam (now Thailand), India. Cambodia,
Borneo, and the Moluccas (Spice Islands)
when the Spanish colonizers came to the
Philippines. In 1565, the Spanish government
closed the ports of Manila to all countries
except Mexico, thereby giving birth to the
Manila—Acapulc6 Trade. popularly known as
the "Galleon Trade."
The Galleon Trade (1565 to 1815) was a ship
("galleon") trade going back and forth between
Manila (which actually landed first in Cebu)
and Acapulco, Mexico. It started when Andres
de Urdaneta, in convoy under Miguel Lopez de
Legaspi. discovered a return route from Cebu
to Mexico in 1565. The trade served as the
central income generating business for
Spanish colonists in the Philippines.
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Through this trans-Pacific trade, the mango de
in Mexico by 1737), cockfighting, Chinese tea
and textiles, fireworks display, tuba (coconut
Wine) making went to Mexico. The return
voyage. on the other hand, brought numerous
and valuable flora and fauna into the
Philippines, including guava, avocado, papaya,
pineapple, horses, and cattle ("Galleon Trade:
n.d.). Other consequences of this 250-year
trade were the intercultural exchanges
between Asia (especially Philippines), Spanish
America, and onward to Europe and Africa.
Because of the galleon trade, Manila became
a trading hub where China, India, Japan, and
Southeast Asian countries sent their goods to
be consolidated for shipping. Those who ran
the hub and did most of the work were
primarily Chinese. They arrived in the
Philippines in junks yearly, bringing goods and
workforce. With the huge migration of Chinese
because of the galleon trade. the Spaniards
•feared them, taxed them, sent them out to the
Parian and eventually. when tensions rose,
massacred some of them. "Such massacres
were at their height in the 17th century from
suspicion, unease, and fear, until the
Spaniards and the Chinese learned to live with
each other in the next few centuries" (Ongpin.
n.d.).
The Manila Galleon trade allowed modern,
liberal ideas to enter the Philippines.
eventually and gradually inspiring the
movement for independence from Spain. On
September 14, 1815, the Galleon Trade ended
with Mexico's war of independence.
Previously, the Philippines was governed by
Spain from Mexico. The Spanish Crown took
direct control of the Philippines and
administered it directly from Madrid. The
opening of the Suez Canal and the invention of
steam ships, which lessened the travel time
from Spain to the country to 40 days, made
this more convenient.
Opening of the Suez Canal
An artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, the
Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea
to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez.
Constructed by the Suez Canal Company
between 1859 and 1869 under the leadership
of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, it
was officially opened on November 17, 1869.
With the opening of the Suez Canal, the
distance of travel between Europe and the
Philippines was considerably abbreviated and
this virtually brought the country closer to
Spain. Before the opening of the canal, a
steamer from Barcelona had to sail around the
Cape of Good Hope to reach Manila after a
menacing journey of more than three months.
With the Suez Canal, the voyage was
lessened to only 32 to 40 days.
The opening of the Suez Canal became a
huge advantage in commercial enterprises
especially between Europe and East Asia.
More importantly, it served as a significant
factor that enabled the growth of nationalistic
desires of Jose Rizal and other Filipino
ilustrados.
The Suez Canal expedited the importation not
only of commercial products but also of books,
magazines, and newspapers with liberal ideas
from America and Europe, which ultimately
affected the minds of Rizal and other Filipino
reformists. The political views of Western
liberal thinkers entered the Philippines.
Furthermore. the reduced route stimulated
more and more Spaniards and Europeans with
liberal ideas to come to the country and
interact with local reformists.
The availability of the Suez Canal has also
encouraged the ilustrados, especially Rizal, to
pursue education abroad and learn scientific
and liberal in European academic institutions,
their social dealings with liberals in the West
have influenced their thoughts on nationhood,
politics, and government.
Rise of the Export of Crop Economy
During the Galleon Trade, most of the
Spaniards in the Philippines were engrossed in
maritime trading undertakings between Manila
and Mexico. The exploitation of the Philippines'
natural resources and the progress of an
export crop economy were phenomena of the
nineteenth century, not of the Spanish rule's
early period.
Some years after the end of the Galleon
Trade, between 1820 and 1870, the
Philippines was well on its way of developing
an export crop economy. Products, such as
sugar, Manila hemp, and coffee were
produced for foreign markets while imported
goods of the European factory industry found
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
their way into many parts Of the Philippines.
The various economic activities in the new
export-crop economy in the country provided
many opportunities for the expanding Chinese
population: Formerly concentrated in Manila,
many Chinese moved to provinces that
produced export crops: the hemp-producing
areas of southeastern Luzon and the eastern
Visayas, the sugar areas of the western
Visayas, and the tobacco provinces of
northeastern Luzon.
The development of the export crop industry in
the Philippines was motivated by the
commercial undertakings of North European
and North American merchants, who provided
capital, organization, and access to foreign
markets and sources of imports. But since they
based their operations in port cities, especially
Manila, they needed agents who could
distribute imports in the interior and buy up
goods for export. This role was assumed
primarily by the Chinese.
Monopolies
Another main source of wealth during the post-
galleon era was monopoly contracting. After
1850, government monopoly contracts for the
collection of different revenues were opened to
foreigners for the first time. The Chinese
instantly took advantage of this commercial
opportunity and thus, for the rest of the 19th
century, enjoyed a pre-eminent position in
monopoly contracting in the Philippines.
The opium monopoly was specifically a
profitable one. During the 1840's, the Spanish
government had legalized the use of opium
(provided it was limited to Chinese) and a
government monopoly of opium importation.
and sales was created. The majority of
contracts in the monopoly were held by the
Chinese.
But even before 1850, monopolies on some
products had been established, which were
basically controlled by the colonial
government. There were monopolies of
Special crops and items, such as spirituous
liquors (1712-1864), betel nut (1764), tobacco
(1782-1882), and explosives (1805-1864).
Among these monopoly systems, the most
controversial and oppressive to locals wag
perhaps the tobacco monopoly.
On March 1, 1782. Governor General Jose
Basco placed the Philippine tobacco industry
under government control, thereby
establishing the tobacco monopoly It aimed to
increase government revenue since the annual
subsidy coming from Mexico was no longer
sufficient to maintain the colony. An order was
thus issued for the widespread cultivation of
tobacco in the provinces of Cagayan Valley,
Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sun La Union, Isabela,
Abra, Nueva Ecija, and Marinduque.
These provinces planted nothing but tobacco
and sold their produce only to the government
at a pre-designated price, leaving little or no
profit for the local farmers. The system set the
required number of tobacco plants that must
be sold to them by each family Nobody was
allowed to keep even a few tobacco leaves for
personal use, thereby forcing the local farmers
to buy the tobacco they themselves planted
from the government. Fines and/or physical
punishments were sanctioned to anyone who
would transgress any of the decrees under the
system.
The colonial government exported the tobacco
to other countries and to the cigarette factories
in Manila. The
tobacco monopoly positively raised revenues
for the government and made Philippine
tobacco prominent all over Asia and some
parts in Europe. Negatively though, the
monopoly brought about food shortages since
the planting of basic crops like rice was
somewhat neglected and abandoned.
The tobacco monopoly was finally abolished in
1882. (Some references state that the tobacco
monopoly in the Philippines was from 1781 to
1881, not 1782 to 1882, although most authors
agree that it lasted for exactly 100 years.) A
century of hardship and social injustice caused
by the tobacco monopoly prompted Filipinos in
general and Novo Ecijanos in particular, to
seek freedom from colonial bondage.
The Social Background
Concerning the social picture of the 19th
century Philippines, at least three topics are
needed to be discussed: (a) education, (b) the
rise of Chinese Mestizo, and (c) the rise of the
inquilinos.
Education in the 19th Century
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
With the coming of Spanish colonizers, the
European system of education was somewhat
introduced to the archipelago. Schools were
established and run by Catholic missionaries.
Aiming to convert the natives to the Catholic
faith and make them obedient. the colonial
government and the Catholic Church made
religion a compulsory subject at all levels.
King Philip Il's Leyes de Indias (Laws of the
Indies) mandated Spanish authorities in the
Philippine? to educate the locals, to teach
them how to read and write and to learn
Spanish. The Spanish missionaries thus
established
schools, somewhat educated the natives, but
did not seriously teach them the Spanish
language, fearing that Indios would become so
knowledgeable and turn out to be their co-
equal. Less than one-fifth of those who went to
school could read and write Spanish, and far
fewer could speak the language properly
The first formal schools in the land were the
parochial schools opened in their parishes by
the missionaries, such as the Augustinians,
Franciscans, Jesuits, and Dominicans. Aside
from religion, the native children were taught
reading, writing, arithmetic, and some
vocational and practical arts subjects. Aside
from the Christian Doctrines, Latin (the official
language of the Catholic Church) was also
taught to the students instead of Spanish. The
Spanish friars believed that the natives would
not be able to match their skills, and so one
way for the locals to learn fast was to use strict
discipline, such as applying corporal
punishment.
Later on, colleges (which were the equivalent
of our high schools today) were established for
boys and girls. There was no co-education
during the Spanish regime as boys and girls
studied in separate schools. The subjects
taught to college students included history,
Latin, geography, mathematics, and
philosophy.
University education was opened in the
country during the early part of the
17thcentury. Initially, the colleges and
universities were open only to the Spaniards
and those with Spanish blood (mestizos). It
was only in the 19th century that these
universities started accepting native Filipinos.
Still giving emphasis on religion, universities
then did not earnestly teach science and
mathematics.
In 1863, a royal decree called for the
establishment of a public school system in the
Philippines. Formerly run totally by religious
authorities, the education in the colony was
thus finally administered by the government
during the last half of the 19th century though
even then the church controlled its curriculum.
Previously exclusive for Spaniards and
Spanish mestizos, universities became open
to natives though they limited their
accommodations to the sons of wealthy Indio
families.
Nonetheless, as a result of the growing
number of educated natives, a new social
class in the country emerged, which came to
be known as the Ilustrados. But despite their
wealth and education, the ilustrados were still
deemed by the Spaniards as inferior. One of
the aims of the ilustrados was to be in the
same level with the proud Spaniards.
With the opening of the Suez Canal. which
made the travel to Europe faster, easier, and
more affordable, many locals took advantage
of the chance to pursue higher and better
education in that continent, typically in Madrid
and Barcelona. There, nationalism and the
thirst for reform bloomed in the liberal
atmosphere. The new enlightened class in
Philippine society would later lead the
Philippine independence movement, using the
Spanish language as their key means of
communication. Out of this talented group of
students from the Philippines arose what came
to be known as the Propaganda Movement
The most prominent of the Ilustrados was José
Rizal, who inspired the craving for freedom
and independence with his novels written in
Spanish.
The Rise of Chinese Mestizo
At the beginning of the 19th century, economic
and political changes in Europe were finally
starting to affect Spain and, consequently the
Philippines. Significant as an impetus to
broader trade was the gradual abolition of the
monopoly enjoyed by the Manila-Acapulco
Galleon. Upon the elimination of the galleon
trade, Manila became open to foreign
merchants almost without restriction by the
mid-1830s. The demand for Philippine sugar
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
and abaca (hemp) grew swiftly, and the
amount of exports to European countries
increased even more after the opening of the
Suez Canal in 1869.
The development of commercial agriculture in
the archipelago resulted in the presence of a
new class. Alongside the landholdings of the
church and the rice estates of the pre-Spanish
nobility, there emerged haciendas of sugar,
coffee, and hemp, typically owned by
enterprising Chinese-Filipino mestizos. In fact,
some of the families which attained reputation
in the 19th century have continued to play a
vital role in the country's economics and
politics.
In a larger perspective, the fast rhythm of
economic progress in the Philippines during
the 19th century expedited by some mentioned
factors resulted in the rise of.a new breed of
rich and influential Filipino middle class. Non-
existent in earlier centuries, this class,
composed of Spanish and Chinese mestizos
ascended to a position of power in the
Philippine society and in due course became
leaders in education and finance. This middle
class included:
“…the ilustrados who belonged to the landed
gentry and who were highly respected in their
respective pueblos or towns, though regarded
as filibusteros or rebels by the friars. The
relative prosperity of the period has enabled
them to send their sons to Spain and Europe
for higher studies. Most of them later became
members of freemasonry and active in the
Propaganda Movement. Some of them sensed
the failure of reformism and turned to
radicalism. and looked up to Rizal as their
leader.” (Vallano, n.d.)”
Rise of the Inquilinos
At least in modern Spanish, the term inquilino
has the same meaning as the English “tenant”
Contextually, the 19th Century inquilino
system in the Philippines is better understood
as a qualified system of tenancy, or the right to
use land in exchange for rent.
As earlier explained, the elimination of the
Galleon Trade and the opening of the Suez
Canal gave way for more intensive rice
cultivation and production of crops. such as
sugar cane and tobacco. Consequently, many
estates turned progressively to the inquilino
system of land tenure. But since the friars and
secular Spanish were normally absentee
landlords, estate management was granted to
an administrator who was typically a lay
Spanish mestizo or Filipino lay brother. During
harvest time, the administrator would collect
the rent of the inquilinos, organize the delivery
of the harvests to the local market or to Manila,
and remit the income from sales and rents to
the estate owners. In some estates though,
these farm duties were consigned to trusted
inquilinos. Acting as overlords, some inquilinos
would make innumerable and irrational
demands from farm workers.
Inquilinos paid a fixed rent and the amount
was determined by the size and quality of the
land being worked
on. But with the expansion of land owned by
missionary congregations (friar estates), the
proportions of farmlands leased to inquilinos
also increased allowing many of them to sub-
lease parcels of their land to sharecroppers or
kasamas. This system eventually became very
profitable that some inquilinos acquired lands
of their own and entered in other gainful
commercial ventures. Some inquilinos even
ceased becoming farmers and relegated the
job completely to their sub-tenants.
As friar estates enlarged, outlining the
boundaries that separated these estates from
communal lands became a common cause of
conflict:
Disputes over communal woodcutting and
grazing areas occurred regularly between
villages and estates, with the latter denying to
the former their traditional communal
privileges. In Bulacan, for instance, the
villagers once complained that the friars took
illegal possession of their land and to
compound this crime, they even denied the
use of rivers for fishing and the forests for
collecting firewood and wild fruits. In Cavite
and Laguna, the Dominicans and Tagalog
frequently fought over border lands. In one
incident, the former claimed that the pasture
lands in a nearby mountain was included in
their land grant, while the latter denied this and
regularly killed the estate cattle grazing there.
Land border conflicts became so acute in
these provinces that they served as catalysts
for agrarian uprisings. (Sobritchea, n.d.)
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
There were also conflicts between estate
owners and workers. These stemmed from
collection of excessive
taxes and land rent, the decline of sharing
agreements, extreme demands for labor
services and capricious fixing of crop prices:
“the hacienda structure consisted of three
strata: the estate owner, the leaseholder or
inquilino and the tenant-sharecropper.
Between the owner and the inquilino, however,
was the administrator who often demanded a
share of the produce, over and. above the
stipulated land rent. Each year at harvest time,
the inquilino paid the land rent, separated the
seed, and divided the remaining crop equally
between the sharecropper and himself. Since
the sharecropper was at the bottom rung of the
hierarchy, he suffered most abuses and
demands of the two non-producing sectors
above him." (Sobritchea, n.d.)”
Consequently, there were instances of
peasants taking arms to protest the alleged
abuses and usurpation of their lands by the
Jesuits, Dominicans, Augustinians, and the
Recollects. The relative freedom, which the
inquilinos acquired by sub-leasing their farms
provided them a tactical advantage for
arranging and leading these peasant protest
movements.
The Political Landscape
The so-called political influences affecting the
19th century-Philippines largely impacted the
locals, particularly Jose Rizal. Under these
political influences, worthy of mention are (a)
Liberalism, (b) the impact of the Bourbon
reforms, and (c) the Cadiz constitution.
Liberalism
Liberalism is a worldview founded on ideas of
freedom and equality. It includes a wide range
of political
philosophies that consider individual liberty to
be the most significant political goal, and
underscore individual rights and equality of
opportunity. Liberals normally believe that
government is necessary to protect individuals
from being abused by others though they are
also aware that government itself can pose a
threat to liberty.
The French revolution (1789-1799) started a
political revolution in Europe and consequently
in some other parts of the globe, "Having
'Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" as its battle
cry, thig revolution became a period of
fundamental change in the political history of
France as the French governmental structure
changed from absolute monarchy (with feudal
privileges for the rich and clergy) into a more
liberal government system founded on the
principles of citizenship and inalienable rights.
As an eventual repercussion of the French
Revolution, Spain later experienced a stormy
century of political disturbances, which
included "numerous changed in parliaments
and constitutions, the Peninsular War, the loss
Of Spanish America, and the struggle between
liberals and conservatives" (Vallano, n.d.). The
liberals in Spain considered the Catholic
Church as an enemy of reforms. They thus
pursued curbing its influence in political life
and education. In the 19th century, this
movement against the Catholic Church, called
anti-clericalism, had gained some strength.
Radical modifications in government form were
also introduced by liberals in Spain. These
political changes had their repercussions in the
Philippines, "cracking the fabric of the old
colonial system and introducing through cracks
perilous possibilities of reform, of equality and
even emancipation" (De la Costa, as cited in
Vallano, n.d.).
When the Philippines was opened to world
trade in the 19th century, liberal ideas from
America carried by ships and people from
foreign ports started to penetrate the country
and sway the ilustrados. These political
thoughts included the ideologies of the
American and French Revolutions.
Furthermore, the opening of the Suez Canal
eased the importation of books, magazines,
and newspapers with liberal ideas from the
West, which eventually impacted the thoughts
of local reformists, such as Jose Rizal. The
political views of liberal thinkers, such as Jean
Jacques Rousseau (Social Contract), John
Locke (Two Treatises of Government),
Thomas Paine (Common Sense), Thomas
Jefferson, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and some
others thus entered the Philippines.
The valuable canal also encouraged more and
more liberal Spaniards and Europeans to
come to the country and intermingle with the
natives. The abbreviated route has also
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
stimulated the ilustrados like Rizal to pursue
higher studies abroad and learn liberal ideas in
European universities. For sure, their social
interaction with liberals in foreign lands had
affected their beliefs on politics and
nationhood.
Philippines' actual experience of liberalism
came from the role modeling of the “first liberal
governor-general in the Philippines,"
Governor-General Carlos Maria De la Torre.
After the liberals in Spain had deposed Queen
Isabela Il in the 1868 mutiny, a provisional
government was formed, and the new
government extended to Spain's colonies the
reforms they implemented in the motherland.
The liberal General Carlos Maria De la Torre
was appointed by the provisional government
as Governor-General of the Philippines. He
held the position from 1869 to 1871, and is
widely considered to be the most beloved of
the Spanish Governor-General ever assigned
in the country.
General De la Torre's rule was essential in the
dawn of national consciousness of the locals in
the 19th century. His liberal and democratic
governance had provided Jose Rizal and the
others a preview of a democratic rule and way
of life:
"De la Torre put into practice his liberal and
democratic ways by avoiding luxury and living
a simple life. During his two-year term,
Governor De la Torre had many significant
achievements. He encouraged freedom and
abolished censorship. He recognized the
freedom of speech and of the press, which
were guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution.
Because of his tolerant policy, Father Jose
Burgos and other Filipino priests were
encouraged to pursue their dream of replacing
the friars with the Filipino clergy as parish
priests in the country. His greatest
achievement was the peaceful solution to the
land problem in Cavite. This province has
been the center of agrarian unrest in the
country since the 18th century because the
Filipino tenants who lost their land had been
oppressed by Spanish landlords. Agrarian
uprisings led by the local hero, Eduardo
Camerino, erupted several times in Cavite.
This agrarian problem was only solved without
bloodshed when Governor De la Torre himself
went .to Cavite and had a conference with the
rebel leader. He pardoned the latter and his
followers, provided them with decent livelihood
and appointed them as members of the police
force with Camerino as captain." (Valldno,
n.d.)”
The Impact of the Bourbon Reforms
When the Spanish Bourbon King Philip V (b.
1700—1746) assented to the throne, he and
his successors, Ferdinand VI (n 1746—1759),
Charles Ill (r. 1759—1788), and Charles IV (r.
1788—1807), advocated a century-long effort
to reform and modify the Spanish empire.
These policy changes, known jointly as the
Bourbon Reforms, endeavored to curtail
contraband commerce, reclaim control over
transatlantic trade, restrict the church's power,
reform state finances to fill dwindling royal
coffers, and found tighter administrative and
political control within the empire.
Ideally, the Bourbon reform policies were
advantageous to the Philippines, which was
under Spain from 1565 to 1898. They surely
impacted the way the colony was run by
Spanish administrators but only to a limited
extent. For one thing. the Philippines was
practically far from Spain, and so it was hard
for Bourbon advocates to check if reform
policies were properly implemented in Spain's
colony in the Far East.
Moreover, there were questionable matters as
regards the effectiveness of the Bourbon
reform project. The policies lacked some
ideological coherence, with the diverse and
frequently contradictory aims of Madrid policy
makers, who struggled haltingly to balance the
crown's several commercial, administrative,
fiscal, and military aims. The reform process
was also seen as so complex, much so that
Spanish reformers sometimes promoted
distinctly different kinds of policies for
provinces in its diverse empire. Furthermore,
there were instances when European conflicts
forced Charles IV to go from one policy to
another by the mid1790s to meet the needs of
financing Spain's wars.
As a consequence, there were very different
impacts of reform in the diverse Spanish
empire, having deep consequences of colonial
policy innovations in areas. such as Mexico,
while in some other regions, such as the
Philippines, Chile, and New Granada, the
reforms had a much more limited impact. But
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
while historians are questioning the overall
timing, impact, and effectiveness of the
Bourbon Reforms, its impact at least is that it
gave people, especially the natives in the
Philippines, the idea that colonization could be
done without much intervention from the
Catholic Church.
The Cadiz Constitution
During the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, a
liberal constitution was promulgated in Cådiz
in March 1812. Drafted by elected
representatives, the Cadiz Constitution was
put in practice in almost all the areas of the
Hispanic Monarchy still under control of the
Spanish crown.
This milestone constitution had an impact on
many other European constitutions, as well as
on the American states after independence.
The Cadiz Constitution was the first
constitution in Europe to deal with national
sovereignty, recognizing sovereignty as
coming from the people and not from the king.
Unlike the French constitution, which applied
to all French-speaking citizens of France,
Spanish Constitution of 1812 had a
universal character as it included everyone
from overseas, like the Italian Kingdoms and
even the Philippines.
During the occupation of almost all of the
Iberian peninsula by the French army in that
fateful yean a group of around 300 deputies
from Spain, Spanish America, and the
Philippines promulgated a liberal constitution
in the Mediterranean port of Cådiz. This
became possible especially because the city
wag protected by the British Navy.
The first delegates from the Philippines were
Pedro Perez de Tagle and Jose Manuel
Coretto who took their oath of office in Madrid.
The Cadiz Constitution, which was formally
implemented in Manila soon after, established
the principles of universal male suffrage,
national sovereignty, constitutional monarchy,
and freedom of the press, and advocated land
reform and free enterprise. Dealing with
policies on Spain's colonies including the
Philippines, the constitution issued a decree
"granting all its colonies representation as
provinces in the Spanish Cortes through
deputies chosen by the various capital cities"
(Pedrosa, n.d.). Under the Cadiz Constitution:
“Governor General Manuel Gonzales Aguilar Those who possess this quality of mind can
called for an election of Manila officials which understand their own experiences by locating
resulted in the selection of Don Ventura de los themselves in history; they can recognize the
Reyes, a wealthy merchant and member of the responses available to them by becoming
Royal Corps of Artillery of Manila, as the aware of all of the individuals who share the
deputy. The Vigan-born Don Ventura de Ios same situation as themselves.
Reyes was a son of poor Ilocano parents. He
People who cannot locate their lives in history
took part in the Ilocos revolt led by Diego
are unlikely to know how to respond effectively
Silang in 1762, but later on engaged in the
to a world in
vegetable and indigo business. He was one of
the delegates who signed the Constitution but which the lives of people around the globe are
it was only after a year that those in Manila interconnected and in which one society's
knew about its decrees." (Pedrosa, n.d.)” problems are part of larger global problems.
On the other hand, those who have the
The constitutional monarchy that the Cadiz
sociological imagination con grasp history in
Constitution attempted to put in place did not
the context of realities they face and the
come to fruition because in May of 1814, King
connections between the two. As will be
Fernando VIl declared it invalid and restored
discussed in this book, Rizal had this quality—
absolutism. However, Cådiz was a very
he knew his place in the greater scheme of
significant period in the political history of the
things, he understood the societal forces
Spanish-speaking world at least. On the part of
shaping his life, and thus able to respond in
the locals in the Philippines, one crucial creed
ways that benefitted others.
embodied in the constitution was the
exemption of the natives from paying tributes
and rendering public services based on its
equality clause. For the freedom-loving people
of the Philippines in the 19th century, the
constitution was very influential as it was a
liberal constitution, which vested sovereignty in
the people, recognized the equality of all men
and the individual liberty of the citizen, and
granted the right of suffrage.
Seeing Rizal's Life in His Society
In various social sciences, it is a widely
accepted principle that we see the life of an
individual in his/her society, and society in the
life of an individual. This is precisely the
reason that 19th century Philippines, as Rizal's
society, is discussed here as a preliminary in
studying the hero's life and works.
One unique feature of Rizal, nonetheless, is
that he did not only know the valuable
information about his society but also had a
quality of mind that helped him use the
information in a way that he could think about
what was going on in the world and of what
might be happening within himself.
Sociologists call this quality of mind the
“sociological imagination”.
Having this sociological imagination, people
can view their inner life career in terms of
larger historical forces.

Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)

CHAPTER III: RIZAL’S LIFE:
RIZAL’S FAMILY, CHILDHOOD,
AND EARLY EDUCATION
MODULE OVERVIEW
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
was born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba. Laguna.
The seventh of eleven children born to a relatively
well-off family in a Dominican-owned tenant land in
Calamba, Laguna, Jose Rizal lived and died during
the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines.
In his early childhood, Jose had mastered the
alphabet and learned to write and read. His early
readings included the Spanish version of the
Vulgate Bible. At a young age, he already showed
inclinations to the arts. He amazed his family by his
pencil drawings, sketches, and moldings of clay.
Later in his childhood, he showed special talent in
painting and sculpture, wrote a Tagalog play, which
was presented at a town fiesta (and later penned a
short play in Spanish, which was presented in
school).
LEARNING CONTENTS
Don Francisco Mercado
Jose's father, Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado,
was a productive farmer from Binan, Laguna. He
was an independent-minded, taciturn. but dynamic
gentleman from whom Jose inherited his “free soul”
Don Francisco became tiniente gobernadorcillo
(lieutenant governor) in Calamba and was thus
nicknamed Tiniente Kika (Some students' comical
conjecture that the fictional character Kikong
Matsing of Batibot was named after Don Francisco
is, of course, unfounded.)
Francisco's great grandfather was Domingo Lam-
co, a learned pro-poor or maka-masa Chinese
immigrant businessman who married a
sophisticated Chinese mestiza of Manila named
Ines de la Rosa. One of their twochildren,
Francisco (also), resided in Binan and married
Bernarda Monicha. Francisco and Bernarda's son,
Juan Mercado, became the gobernadorcillo (town
mayor) of Bifian, Laguna. He married Cirila
Alejandra, and they had 12 children, the youngest
being Jose Rizal's father, Francisco.
Don Francisco was born on May 11, 1818, in
Binan, Laguna. When he was eight years old, he
lost his father. He was nonetheless educated as he
took Latin and Philosophy at the College of San
Jose in Manila, where he met and fell in love with
Teodora Alonso, a student in the College of Santa
Rosa. Married on June 28, 1848, they settled down
in Calamba where they were granted lease of a rice
farm in the Dominican-owned haciendas.
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Dona Teodora Alonso
Jose’s mother, Teodora Alonzo (also spelled
“Alonso”), was an educated and highly cultured
woman from Sta. Cruz, Manila. Common
biographies state that Dona Teodora Alonso
Quintos Realonda, also known as “Lolay,” was born
on November 8, 1826 in Sta. Cruz, Manila and
baptized at the Santa Cruz Church. Strangely
however, the volume in the church books that
supposedly contained Teodora’s baptismal records
was the only one missing from the otherwise
complete records down to the eighteenth century
(Ocampo, 2012, p. 39). Asuncion Rizal-Lopez
Bantug, the granddaughter of Jose’s sister Narcisa,
contrarily claims that Lola Lolay and all her siblings
were born in Calamba, but (just) lived in Manila
(Bantug & Ventura, 1997, p. 18).
Dona Lolay was educated at the College of Santa
Rosa, an esteemed school for girls in Manila. She
was usually described as a diligent business-
minded woman, very graceful but courageous, well-
mannered, religious, and well-read. Very dignified,
she disliked gossip and vulgar conversation.
Possessing refined culture and literary talents, she
influenced her children to love the arts, literature,
and music. Herself an educated woman, Lolay sent
her children to colleges in Manila. To help in the
economy of the family, she ran sugar and flour mills
and a small store in their house, selling home-made
ham, sausages, jams, jellies, and many others.
(Looking back, her business, in a way, predated the
meat-processing commerce of the Pampanguenos
today and the ube jam production of some nuns in
Baguio.)
It is believed that Dona Teodora's family descended
from Lakandula, the last native king of Tondo. (For
young Filipino generations, Lakandula has to be
distinguished from the unofficial Hari ng Tondo,
Asiong Salonga, the Manila kingpin who was
immortalized in the movie incidentally by Laguna's
own governor E. R. Ejercito.).
Lolay's great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua (of
Japanese descent) who married a Filipina named
Benigna. Regina, their daughter, married a Filipino-
Chinese lawyer of Pangasinan, Manuel de Quintos.
Lorenzo Alberto Alonso, a well-off Spanish-Filipino
mestizo of Binan, took as his "significant other"
Brigida Quintos, daughter of Manuel and Regina
Quintos. The Lorenzo-Brigida union produced five
children, the second of them was Jose Rizal's
mother, Teodora Alonso Quintos.
Through the Claveria decree of 1849 which
changed the Filipino native surnames, the Alonsos
adopted the surname Realonda. Rizal's mother
thus became Teodora Alonso Quintos Realonda.
Jose's Siblings
Saturnina Rizal (1850-1913) is the eldest child of
Don Francisco and Teodora Alonso. She and her
mother provided the little Jose with good basic
education that by the age of three, Pepe (Jose's
nickname) already knew his alphabet.
Paciano Rizal, Jose's only brother, was born on
March 7, 1851 in Calamba, Laguna. He was fondly
addressed by his siblings as Nor Paciano, short for
"Senor Paciano." The 10-year older brother of Jose
studied at San Jose College in Manila, became a
farmer, and later a general of the Philippine
Revolution.
After Jose's execution in December 1896, Paciano
joined the Katipuneros in Cavite under General
Emilio Aguinaldo. As Katipunero, Paciano was
commissioned as general of the revolutionary
forces and elected as secretary of finance in the
Department Government of Central Luzon.
Narcisa Rizal (1852-1939) or simply "Sisa” was the
third child in the family. Later in history, Narcisa
(like Sturnina) would help in financing Rizal's
studies in Europe, even pawning her jewelry and
peddling her clothes if needed. It was said she
could recite from memory almost all of the poems
of our national hero.
Olympia Rizal (1855-1887) was the fourth child in
the Rizal family. Jose loved to tease her,
sometimes good-humoredly describing her as his
stout sister. Jose's first love, Segunda Katigbak,
was Olympia's schoolmate at the La Concordia
College. Rizal confided to Olympia (also spelled
"Olimpia”) about Segunda, and the sister willingly
served as the mediator between the two teenage
lovers.
Lucia Rizal (1857—1919) was the fifth child in the
family. She married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba,
Laguna. Charged of inciting the Calamba townsfolk
not to pay land rent and causing unrest, the couple
was once ordered to be deported along with some
Rizal family members. (Lucia's husband died during
the cholera epidemic in May 1889 and was refused
a Catholic burial for not going to confession since
his marriage to Lucia. In Jose's article in La
Solidaridad titled Una profanacion (A Profanation),
he scornfully attacked the friars for declining to bury
in “sacred ground" a "good Christian" simply
because he was the "brother-in-law of Rizal.)
Maria Rizal (1859-1945) was the sixth child in the
family. It was to her whom Jose talked about
wanting to marry Josephine Bracken when the
majority of the Rizal family was apparently not
amenable to the idea. In his letter dated December
12, 1891. Jose had also brought up to Maria his
plan of establishing a Filipino colony in North British
Borneo. In his letter dated December 28, 1891.
Jose wrote to Maria, "I'm told that your children are
very pretty." Today, we have a historical proof that
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Maria's progenies were indeed nice-looking (lahing
maganda). Maria and Daniel had five children:
Mauricio, Petrona, Prudencio, Paz, and
Encarnacion. Their son Mauricio married
Conception Arguelles and the couple had a son
named Ismael Arguelles Cruz. Ismael was the
father of Gemma Cruz Araneta, the first Filipina to
win the Miss International title, also the first
Southeast Asianto win an international beauty-
pageant title.
Also called "Concha" by her siblings, Concepcion
Rizal (1862-1865) was the eighth child of the Rizal
family She died at the age of three. Of his sisters, it
was said that the young Pepe loved most little
Concha who was a year younger than he. Jose
played games and shared children stories with her,
and from her he felt the beauty of sisterly love at a
young age.
Josefa Rizal's nickname is "Panggoy" (1865-1945)
She was the ninth child in the family. Panggoy died
a spinster. Among Jose's letters to Josefa, the one
dated October 26, 1893, was perhaps the most
fascinating. Written in English, the letter addressed
Josefa as "Miss Josephine Rizal." (After Jose's
martyrdom, the epileptic Josefa joined the
Katipunan and was even supposed to have been
elected the president of its women section. She
was one of the original 29 women admitted to the
Katipunan along with Gregoria de Jesus, wife of
Andres Bonifacio. They safeguarded the secret
papers and documents of the society and danced
and sang during sessions so that civil guards would
think that the meetings were just harmless social
gatherings.
Trinidad Rizal (1868-1951) or "Trining" was the
tenth child. Historically, she became the custodian
of Rizal’s last and greatest poem. Right before
Jose's execution, Trinidad and their mother visited
him in the Fort Santiago prison cell. As they were
leaving, Jose handed over to Trining an alcohol
cooking stove, a gift from the Pardo de Taveras,
whispering to her in a language, which the guards
could not understand. "There is something in it."
That “something" was Rizal's elegy now known as
"Mi Ultimo Adios." Like Josefa, Paciano, and two
nieces, Trinidad joined the Katipunan after Jose's
death.
Also called "Choleng," Soledad Rizal (1870-1929)
was the youngest child of the Rizal family. Being a
teacher, she was arguably the best-educated
among Rizal's sisters. In his long and meaty letter
to Choleng dated June 6, 1890 ("Jose Rizal on
Facebook Courtship," 2013), Jose told her sister
that he was proud of her for becoming a teacher.
He thus counseled her to be a model of virtues and
good qualities "for the one who should teach should
be better than the persons who need her learning."
Rizal nonetheless used the topic as leverage in
somewhat rebuking her sister for getting married to
Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba without their
parents', consent. "Because of you," he wrote, "the
peace of our family has been disturbed."
Choleng's union with Pantaleon, nonetheless,
resulted in the Rizal family's becoming connected
by affinity to Miguel Malvar (the hero who could
have been listed as the second Philippine President
for taking over the revolutionary government after
Emilio Aguinaldo's arrest in 1901). Soledad and
Pantaleon had five children: Trinitario, Amelia,
Luisa, Serafin, and Felix. Their daughter Amelia
married Bernabe Malvar, son of Gen. Miguel
Malvar.
The Surname Rizal
Had their forefathers not adopted other names,
Jose and Paciano could have been known as
"Lamco" (and not Rizal) brothers.
Their paternal great-great grandfather, Chinese
merchant Domingo Lamco, adopted the name
"Mercado," which means "market." But Jose’s
father, Francisco, who eventually became primarily
a farmer, adopted the surname "Rizal” (originally
"Ricial", which means "the green of young growth"
or "green fields"). The name suggested by a
provincial governor who was a friend of the family.
The new name, however, caused confusion in the
commercial affairs of the family. Don Francisco
settled on the name "Rizal Mercado" as a
compromise, and often just used his more known
surname "Mercado."
When Paciano was a student at the College of San
Jose, he used "Mercado" as his last name. But
because he had gained notoriety with his links to
Father Burgos of the "Gomburza," he suggested
that Jose use the surname "Rizal" for Jose’s own
safety.
Commenting on using the name "Rizal" at Ateneo,
Jose once wrote: "My family never paid much
attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I
had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an
illegitimate child!" (as cited in Arriza, 2012, para. 8).
But this very name suggested by Paciano to be
used by his brother had become so well known by
1891, the year Jose finished his El Filibusterismo.
As Jose wrote to a friend, "All my family now carry
the name Rizal instead of Mercado because the
name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want to
join them and be worthy of this family name..." (as
cited in Arriza, 2012, para. 8).
Rizal’s Birth
Dona Teodora was said to have suffered the
greatest pain during the delivery of her seventh
child, Jose. Her daughter Narcisa recalled: "I was
nine years of age when my mother gave birth to
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Jose. I recall it vividly because my mother suffered
great pain. She labored for a long time. Her pain
was later attributed to the fact that Jose's head was
bigger than normal" (as cited in "Lola Lolay," 2013,
para. 8).
Jose Rizal was born in Calamba. In 1848, his
parents decided to build a home in this town in
Laguna, southern Luzon. The name Calamba was
derived from kalanbanga, which means "clay stove"
(kalan) and "water jar" (banga).
Jose's adoration of its scenic beauty—punctuated
by the sights of the Laguna de Bay, Mount
Makiling, palm-covered mountains, curvy hills, and
green fields— was recorded in the poem he would
later write at Ateneo de Manila in 1876, Un
Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town). (If
Rizal's poem were written today, he might mention
the three-floor SM mall, shopping centers, and the
South Luzon Expressway [SLEX] terminus in the
place. A city since 2001, Calamba is said to have
earned the nickname "Resort Capital of the
Philippines" for its more than 600 resorts in the
place today.)
The first massive stone house (or bahay na bato) in
Calamba was the very birthplace of our national
hero. It was a rectangular two-storey building, built
of adobe stones and solid wood, with sliding capiz
windows. Its ground floor was made of lime and
stone, the second floor of hard wood, except for the
roof, which was of red tiles. There was an azotea
and a water reservoir at the back. Its architectural
style and proximity to the church implied Rizal
family's wealth and political influence.
The Childhood of a Phenom
A phenom is someone who is exceptionally
talented or admired, especially an up-and-comer.
Rizal, especially during his childhood, was none
less than a phenom.
Jose Rizal's first memory, in his infancy, was his
happy days in their family garden when he was
three years old. Their courtyard contained- tropical
fruit trees, poultry yard, a carriage house, and a
stable for the ponies. Because the young Pepe was
weak, sickly, and undersized, he was given the
fondest care by his parents, so his father built a
nipa cottage for Pepe to play in the daytime.
Memory of his infancy included the nocturnal walk
in the town, especially when there was a moon.
Jose also recalled the "aya" (nursemaid) relating to
the Rizal children some fabulous stories, like those
about the fairies, tales of buried treasure, and trees
blooming with diamonds.
Another childhood memory was the daily Angelus
prayer in their home. Rizal recorded in his memoir
that by nightfall, his mother would gather all the
children in their home to pray the Angelus. At the
early age of three, he started to take a part in the
family prayers.
When Concha died of sickness in 1865, Jose
mournfully wept at losing her. He later wrote in his
memoir, "When I was four years old, I lost my little
sister Concha, and then for the first time I shed
tears caused by love and grief" ("Memoirs of a
Student in Manila," n.d.).
At the age of five, the young Pepe learned to read
the Spanish Family Bible, which he would refer to
later in his writings. Rizal himself remarked that
perhaps the education he received since his
earliest infancy was what had shaped his habits
("Memoirs of a Student," n.d., para. 3).
As a child, Rizal loved to go to the chapel, pray,
participate in novenas, and join religious
processions. In Calamba, one of the men he
esteemed and respected was the scholarly Catholic
priest Leoncio Lopez, the town priest. He used to
visit him and listen to his inspiring opinions on
current events and thorough life views.
Also, at the age of five, Pepe started to make pencil
sketches and mold in clay and wax objects, which
attracted his fancy. When he was about six years
old, his sisters once laughed at him for spending
much time making clay and wax images. Initially
keeping silent, he then prophetically told them "All
right laugh at me now! Someday when I die, people
will make monuments and images of me."
When Jose was seven years old, his father
provided him the exciting experience of riding a
“casco” (a flat-bottomed boat with a roof) on their
way to a pilgrimage in Antipolo. The pilgrimage was
to fulfill the vow made by Jose's mother to take him
to the Shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo should she
and her child survive the ordeal of delivery, which
nearly caused her life. From Antipolo, Jose and his
father proceeded to Manila to visit his sister
Saturnina who was at the time studying at the La
Concordia College in Sta. Ana.
As a gift, the child Jose received a pony named
"Alipato” from his father (Bantug & Ventura, 1997,
p. 23). As a child, he loved to ride this pony or take
long walks in the meadows and lakeshore with his
black dog named "Usman”.
The mother also induced Jose to love the arts,
literature, and the classics. Before he was eight
years old, he had written a drama (some sources
say "a Tagalog comedy.”) which was performed at
a local festival and for which the municipal captain
rewarded him with two pesos. (Some references
specify that it was staged in a Calamba festival and
that it was a gobernadorcillo from Paete who
purchased the manuscript for two pesos.)
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Contrary to the “former" common knowledge
however, Rizal did not write the Filipino poem "Sa
Aking Mga Kababata/Kabata" (To My Fellow
Children). The poem was previously believed to be
Rizal’s first written poem at the age of eight and
was said to have been published posthumously
many years after Rizal’s death. However, Jose had
a preserved correspondence (letters) with his
brother Paciano admitting that he (Jose) had only
encountered the word "kalayaan" when he was
already 21 years old. The term ("kalayaan") was
used not just once in the poem "Sa Aking Mga
Kababata/Kabata."
The young Rizal was also interested in magic. He
read many books on magic. He learned different
tricks, such as making a coin disappear and making
a handkerchief vanish in thin air.
Some other influences of Rizal's childhood involved
his three uncles: his Tio Jose Alberto who inspired
him to cultivate his artistic ability; his Tio Manuel
who encouraged him to fortify his frail body through
physical exercises; and his Tio Gregorio who
intensified Rizal's avidness to read good books.
The Story of The Moth
To impart essential life lessons, Lolay held regular
storytelling sessions with the young Rizal. Dona
Teodora loved to read to Pepe stories from the
book Amigo de los Ninos (The Children's Friend).
One day, she scolded his son for making drawings
on the pages of the story book. To teach the value
of obedience to one's parents, she afterward read
him a story in it.
Lolay chose the story about a daughter moth who
was warned by her mother against going too near a
lamp flame. Though the young moth promised to
comply, she later succumbed to the pull of the
light's mysterious charm. believing that nothing bad
would happen if she approached it with caution.
The moth then flew close to the flame. Feeling
comforting warmth at first, she drew closer and
closer, bit by bit, until she flew too close enough to
the flame and perished.
Incidentally, Pepe was watching a similar incident
while he was listening to the storytelling. Like a live
enactment, a moth was fluttering too near to the
flame of the oil lamp on their table. Not merely
acting out, it did fall dead as a consequence. Both
moths in the two tales paid the price of getting near
the fatal light.
Many years later, Rizal himself felt that the moths'
tale could serve as an allegory of his own destiny.
About himself, he wrote:
“Years have passed since then. The child has
become a man… Steamships have taken him
across seas and oceans. He has received from
experience bitter lessons, much more bitter than
the sweet lessons that his mother gave him.
Nevertheless, he has preserved the heart of a
child. He still thinks that light is the most beautiful
thing in creation, and that it is worthwhile for a man
to sacrifice his life for it." (as cited in "My First
Reminiscence," n.d. para. 9)
Education in Calamba
The familiar statement that Dona Teodora was
Rizal's first teacher is not just a sort of "venerating"
his mother who sacrificed a lot for our hero. It was
actually a technical truth. In his memoirs, Rizal
wrote, "My mother taught me how to read and to
say haltingly the humble prayers which I raised
fervently to God."
In Rizal's time, seldom would one see a highly
educated woman of fine culture, like Dona Teodora
who had the capacity to teach Spanish, reading,
poetry, and values through rare story books. Lolay,
indeed, was the first teacher of the hero — teaching
him Spanish, correcting his composed poems, and
coaching him in rhetoric. On her lap, Jose learned
the alphabet and Catholic prayers at the age of
three, and learned to read and write at age of 5.
Aside from his mother, Jose's sister Saturnina and
three maternal uncles mentored him. His uncle loge
Alberto taught him painting, sketching, and
sculpture. Uncle Gregorio influenced him to further
love reading. Uncle Manuel, for his part, developed
Rizal's physical skills in martial arts, like wrestling.
To further enhance what Rizal had learned, private
tutors were hired to give him lessons at home.
Thus, Maestro Celestino tutored him, and Maestro
Lucas Padua later succeededCelestino. Afterward,
a former classmate of Don Francisco, Leon
Monroy, lived at the Rizal home to become the
boy's tutor in Spanish and Latin. Sadly, Monroy
died five months later. (Of course, there is no truth
to some naughty students' comical insinuation that
Rizal had something to do with his death.)
Education in Binan
Rizal was subsequently sent to a private school in
Binan. In June 1869, his brother Paciano brought
him to the school of Maestro Justiniano Aquino
Cruz. The school was in the teacher's house, a
small nipa house near the home of Jose's aunt
where he stayed. In Rizal's own words, his teacher
"knew by the heart the grammars by Nebrija and
Gainza.”
During Rizal's first day at the Bifian school, the
teacher asked him:
"Do you know Spanish?"
"A little, sir," replied Rizal.
"Do you know Latin?"
"A little, sir."
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Because of this, his classmates, especially the
teacher's son Pedro, laughed at the newcomer. So
later in that day, Jose challenged the bully Pedro to
a fight. Having learned wrestling from his Uncle
Manuel, the younger and smaller Jose defeated his
tormenter. (Compared to bullying victims today, we
can say that Rizal did not wait for anyone to enact a
law against bullying, but rather took matters into his
own hands.)
After the class, he had an arm-wrestling match with
his classmate Andres Salandanan. In that match,
however, Jose lost and even almost cracked his
head on the sidewalk. (That only proves that merely
being a desperado won't make you win all your
fights.)
In the following days, Jose was said to have some
other fights with Binan boys. (If his average was
two fights per day, as what happened during his
first day in Binan school, then he might have been
more active than today's MMA (mixed martial arts)
fighters.) For his scuffles, he nonetheless received
many whippings and blows on the open palm from
his disciplinarian teacher.
Rizal might not have won all his brawls but he,
nevertheless, beat all Binan boys academically in
Spanish, Latin, and many other subjects. After
sometime, Jose told his father that he had already
learned all there was to be taught in Binan. Don
Francisco firmly scolded Jose and hustled him back
to the school. Maestro Cruz, Jose's teacher in
Binan, later confirmed, however, that Jose had
indeed finished already all the needed curricular
works. So despite his wife's reluctance, Don
Francisco then decided to send Jose to a school in
Manila.
CHAPTER IV: HIGHER
EDUCATION AND LIFE ABROAD
MODULE OVERVIEW
Don Francisco sent his son Jose for further
education to Manila in June 1872. Paciano found
Jose a boarding house in Intramuros though Jose
later transferred to a house on Calle Carballo in the
Santa Cruz area. In the following year, Jose
transferred residence to No. 6 Calle Magallanes.
Two years later, he became an intern (boarding
student) at Ateneo and stayed there until his
graduation from the institution.
From 1877 to 1882, Rizal studied at the University
of Santo Tomas, enrolling in the course Philosophy
and Letters, but shifted to Medicine a year after.
During his first year at UST, he simultaneously took
at the Ateneo a vocational course leading to being
an expert surveyor. He boarded in the house of a
certain Concha Leyva in Intramuros, and later in
Casa Tomasina, at Calle 6, Santo Tomas,
Intramuros. In Casa Tomasina, his landlord and
uncle Antonio Rivera had a daughter, Leonor, who
became Jose's sweetheart.
LEARNING CONTENTS
Education at the Ateneo
There is a claim that from the BiNan school, Rizal
studied at Colegio de San Juan de Letran. The
supposed story stated that after attending his
classes for almost three months in Letran, Jose
was asked by the Dominican friars to look for
another school because of his radical and bold
questions.
However, standard biographies agree that Rizal
just took the entrance examination in that
institution, but Don Francisco sent him to enroll
instead in Ateneo Municipal in June 1872. Run by
the Jesuit congregation (Society of Jesus), Ateneo
upheld religious instruction, advanced education,
rigid discipline, physical culture, and cultivation of
the arts, like music, drawing, and painting.
(Ironically, this school, which is now the archrival of
De La Salle in being exclusively luxurious, among
others, was formerly the Escuela Pia (Charity
School)—a school for poor boys in Manila
established by the city government in 1817.)
Paciano found Jose a boarding house in Intramuros
but Jose later transferred to the house of a spinster
situated on Calle Carballo in the Santa Cruz area.
There he became acquainted with various mestizos
who were said to be begotten by friars. (Jose
perhaps had not thought twice to befriend them,
believing that they were probably nice people—for
after all, they were "mga anak ng pari" [children of
priests])
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
To encourage healthy competitions, classes at the
Ateneo were divided into two groups, which
constantly competed against each other. One
group, named the Roman Empire, comprised the
interns (boarders) while the other one, the
Carthaginian Empire, consisted of the externs (non-
boarders). Within an empire, members were also in
cdntinuous competition as they vied for the top
ranks called dignitaries— Emperor, being the
highest position, followed by Tribune, Decurion,
Centurion, and Standard-Bearer, respectively.
Initially placed at the tail of the class as a
newcomer, Jose was soon continually promoted—
that just after a month, he had become an Emperor,
receiving a religious picture as a prize.
When the term ended, he attained the mark of
"excellent" in all the subjects and in the
examinations. The second year, Jose trans erred
residence to No. 6 Calle Magallanes. He obtained a
medal at the end of that academic term. In the third
year, he won prizes in the quarterly examinations.
The following year, his parents placed him as intern
(boarding student) in the school and stayed there
until his graduation. At the end of the school year,
he garnered five medals, with which he said he
could somewhat repay his father for his sacrifices.
On March 23, 1877, he received the Bachelor of
Arts degree, graduating as one of the nine students
in his class declared "sobresaliente" or outstanding.
Some of his priest-professors at the Ateneo were
Jose Bech a man with mood swings and somewhat
of a lunatic and of an uneven humor: Francisco de
Paula Sanchez, an upright, earnest, and caring
teacher whom Rizal considered his best professor;
Jose Vilaclara; and a certain Mineves. At the
Ateneo, Rizal cultivated his talent in poetry, applied
himself regularly to gymnastics, and devoted time
to painting and sculpture. Don Augustin Saez,
another professor, thoughtfully guided him in
drawing and painting, and the Filipino Romualdo de
Jesus lovingly instructed him in sculpture.
Education at the UST
In 1877, Rizal enrolled in the University of Santo
Tomas, taking the course on Philosophy and
Letters. At the same time, however, he took at the
Ateneo a land surveyor and assessor's degree
(expert surveyor), a vocational course. He finished
his surveyor's training in 1877, passed the licensing
examination in May 1878 though the license was
granted to him only in 1881 when he reached the
age of majority.
After a year at UST, Jose changed course and
enrolled in Medicine to be able to cure the
deteriorating eyesight of his mother. Being tired of
the discrimination by the Dominican professors
against, Filipino students, he nonetheless stopped
attending classes at UST in 1882. It is worthwhile to
note that another reason for Rizal's not completing
medicine at UST was that the method of instruction
was obsolete and repressive. (Rizal's observation
perhaps had served as a challenge for UST to
improve its mode of instruction.)
If records were accurate, Rizal had taken A total of
19 subjects in UST and finished them with varied
grades, ranging from excellent to fair. Notably, he
got 'excellent' in all his subjects in the Philosophy
course.
Education in Europe
On May 3, 1882, Rizal left for Spain and enrolled in
Medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the
Universidad Central de Madrid on November 3. On
some days of November 1884, Rizal was involved
in the chaotic student demonstrations by the
Central University students in which many were
wounded, hit by cane, arrested, and imprisoned.
The protest rallies started after Dr. Miguel Morayta
had been excommunicated by bishops for
delivering a liberal speech, proclaiming the freedom
of science and the teacher, at the opening
ceremony of the academic year. (Incidentally, the
street in Manila named after Morayta ["Nicanor
Reyes Street" today] has always been affected by,
if not itself the venue of, student demonstrations).
In June of 1884, Rizal received the degree of
Licentiate in Medicine at the age of 23. His rating
though was just "fair" for it was affected by the "low"
grades he got from UST In the next school year
(1884-1885), he took and completed three
additional subjects leading to the Doctor of
Medicine degree. He was not awarded the Doctor's
diploma though for failing to pay the fee and the
required thesis.
Exactly on his 24th birthday, the Madrid university
awarded him the degree of Licentiate in Philosophy
and Letters with the grade of -excellent"
(sobresaliente). (One can thus make the argument
that Rizal was better as a "philosopher" than a
physician.)
Wanting to cure his mother's advancing blindness,
Rizal went to Paris. He was said to have attended
medical lectures at the University of Paris. From
November 1885 to February 1886, he worked as an
assistant to Dr. Louis de Weckert. Through this
leading French ophthalmologist, Rizal thankfully
learned how to perform all the ophthalmological
operations.
On February 3, 1886, Rizal arrived in Heidelberg,
Germany. He attended the lectures of Dr. Otto
Becker and Professor Wilhelm Kuehne at the
University of Heidelberg. He also worked at the
University Eye Hospital under the guidance of Dn
Becker. Under the direction of this renowned
German ophthalmologist, Rizal had learned to use
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
the then newly invented ophthalmoscope (invented
by Hermann von Helmholtz), which he later used to
operate on his mother's eye. In Heidelberg, the 25-
year-old Rizal completed his eye specialization.
Afterward, Rizal spent three months in the nearby
village, Wilhemsfeld, where he wrote the last few
chapters of Noli Me Tangere. He stayed at the
pastoral house of a kind Protestant pastor, Dr. Karl
Ullmer, the whole family of whom became Rizal's
good friends. In August 1886, he attended lectures
on history and psychology at the University of
Leipzig. In November 1886, he reached Berlin, the
famous city where he worked as an assistant in Dr.
Schweigger's clinic "and attended lectures at the
University of Berlin.
In Berlin, he was inducted as a member of the
Berlin's "Ethnological Society: "Anthropological
Society," "Geographical Society." In April 1887, he
was invited to deliver an address in German before
the "Ethnographic Society" of Berlin on the
orthography and structure of the Tagalog language.
In Germany, Rizal met and befriended the famous
academicians and scholars at the time. Among
them were Prof. Friedrich Ratzel, a German
historian; Dr. Hanz Meyer, a German
anthropologist; Dr. Feodor Jagor, the author of
Travels in the Philippines, which Rizal had read as
a student in Manila; DC. Rudolf Virchow, a German
anthropologist; and Rudolf's son, Dr. Hans Virchow,
Descriptive Anatomy professor.
Especially after the hero's martyrdom, these people
who were the renowned personalities in the
academe not only in Germany but also in Europe
were so proud that once in their lives they had
known the educated and great Filipino named Jose
Rizal.
Life in Europe
As mentioned, Rizal stopped attending classes at
UST in 1882, for he was sick and tired of the
discriminatory and oppressive Dominican
professors. On May 3 of that year. he thus left for
Spain not only to complete his studies but also to
widen his political knowledge through exposure to
European governments. It is funny that his
departure for Spain had gone down to history as a
"secret departure", although at least ten people—
including his three siblings and an uncle—
collaborated in his going away, exclusive of the
unnamed and unnumbered Jesuit priests and
intimate friends who co-conspired in the plan.
In Europe
On his way to Madrid, Rizal had many stopovers.
He first disembarked and visited the town of
Singapore. Onboard the steamship "Djemnah," he
passed through Punta de Gales, Colombo, and
Aden. En route to Marseilles, he went across the
historic waterway of Suez Canal and visited the
Italian city of Naples. He left Marseilles, France for
Barcelona in an express train.
After some months, Rizal left Barcelona for Madrid.
On September 16, 1882, Rizal met and befriended
Consuelo Ortiga y Rey, the prettiest of the
daughters of Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, the Spanish
liberal and former mayor of Manila who became
vice-president of the Council of the Philippines in
the Ministry of Colonies. Consuelo suggested in her
diary entry that on the first day she met Rizal, they
talked the whole night and that the young Filipino
said many beautiful things about her. (We can say
thus that as Rizal arrived in Madrid, "May consuelo
agad siya!"
Rizal enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy and
Letters at the Universidad Central de Madrid on
November 3, 1882. In Rizal's letter dated February
13, 1883, he informed Paciano of his meeting with
some Filipinos: "The Tuesday of the Carnival we
had a Filipino luncheon and dinner in the house of
the Paternos, each one contributing one duro. We
ate with our hands boiled rice, chicken adobo, fried
fish, and roast pig" ("Letters between Rizal and
Family: n.d.)
Ironically, a year after that sumptuous feasting,
Rizal became penniless as his family encountered
economic regression. One day, in June 1884, Rizal
who failed to eat breakfast still went to school and
even won a gold medal in a contest. Later that day,
he attended the dinner party held in honor of two
award-winning Filipino painters, Juan Luna and
Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. In the occasion, he
delivered a very daring liberal speech (known today
as "Rizal's Brindis Speech"), which became so
controversial that it even caused sickness to his
worrying mother (Indeed, being broke and hungry
could really make one braver and more impulsive.
As one colleague commented, "Hayop man, 'pag
nagugutom, tumatapang!")
In 1885, Rizal who had finished his two courses in
Madrid went to Paris, France. From November
1885 to February 1886, he worked as an assistant
to the celebrated ophthalmologist Dr. Louis de
Weckert.
In February 3, 1886, he left Paris for Heidelberg,
Germany. He attended lectures and training at the
University of Heidelberg where he was said to have
completed his eye specialization. Afterward, Rizal
settled for three months in the nearby village,
Wilhemsfeld, at the pastoral house of a Protestant
pastor, Dr Karl Ullmer.
It was during this time that the correspondence and
long-distance friendship between Jose and
Ferdinand Blumentritt began. Rizal wrote a letter in
German and sent it with a bilingual (Spanish and
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Tagalog) book Aritmiteca to Blumentritt who was
interested in studying Jose's native language.
Jose traveled next to Leipzig and attended some
lectures at its university. Having reached Dresden
afterward, he met and befriended Dr. Adolph B.
Meyer, the Director of the Anthropological and
Ethnological Museum. Also a Filipinologist, Meyer
showed Rizal some interesting things taken from
tombs in the Philippines.
In November 1886, he went to Berlin and further
enhanced his skills and knowledge in
ophthalmology. In that famous city, not only did he
learn other languages but also became member of
various scientific communities and befriended many
famed intellectuals at the time. On February 21,
1887, he finished his first novel, the Noli, and it
came off the press a month later.
Grand Europe Tour
With his friend Maximo Viola who loaned him some
amount to cover for the printing of the Noli, Rizal
traveled to various places in Europe. Through
Paciano's remittance, Jose had paid Viola and
decided to further explore some places in Europe
before returning to the Philippines. They went first
to see Potsdam, a city southwest of Berlin (which
later became the historical. site of the Potsdam
Conference in 1945 in which the leaders of
powerful nations deliberated upon the postwar
administration of Germany.)
On May 11, 1887, they left Berlin for Dresden and
witnessed the regional floral exposition there.
Wanting to see Blumentritt, they went to Leitmeritz,
Bohemia passing through Teschen (Decin,
Czechoslovakia). Professor Blumentritt warmly
received them at Leitmeritz railroad station. The
professor identified Jose through the pencil sketch,
which he (Rizal) had previously made of himself
and sent to Blumentritt. The professor acted as
their tour guide, introducing them to his family and
to famous European scientists, like Dr. Carlos
Czepelak and Prof. Robert Klutschak.
On May 16, the two Filipinos left Leitmeritz for
Prague where they saw the tomb of the famous
astronomer Copernicus (who formulated a
heliocentric model of the universe, which placed the
Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center). They
stopped at Brunn on their way to Vienna. They met
the famed Austrian novelist Norfenfals in Vienna,
and Rizal was interviewed by Mr. Alder, a
correspondent of the newspaper Extra Blatt ("Rizal
in Vienna: n.d.).
To see the sights of the Danube River, they left
Vienna in a boat where they saw passengers using
paper napkins. From Lintz, they had a short stay in
Salzburg. Reaching Munich, they tasted the local
beer advertised as Germany's finest. In Nuremberg,
they saw the infamous torture machines used in the
so-called Catholic Inquisition. Afterward, they went
to Ulm and climbed Germany's tallest cathedral
there. They also went to Stuttgart, Baden, and then
Rheinfall where they saw Europe's most beautiful
waterfall.
In Switzerland, they toured Schaffhausen, Basel,
Bern, and Lausanne before staying in Geneva.
Rizal's 15-day stay in Geneva was generally
enjoyable except when he learned about the
exhibition of some Igorots in Madrid, side by side
some animals and plants. Not only did the primitive
Igorots in bahag become objects of ridicule and
laughter, one of them, a woman, also died of
pneumonia.
On June 19, 1887, Rizal treated Viola for it was his
(Rizal) 26th birthday. Four days after, they parted
ways—Viola went back to Barcelona while Rizal
proceeded to Italy. In Italy, Rizal went to see Turin,
Milan, Venice, and Florence. In Rome, he paid a
visit to historical places, like the Amphitheatre and
the Roman Forum. On June 29, he had seen the
famous edifices, like the St. Peter's Church, in the
Vatican City. Literally and figuratively speaking,
Rizal did go places. (As millennials put it, “Nag-gala
talaga ang lolo mo!”)
First Homecoming
Despite being warned by friends and loved ones,
Jose was adamant in his decision to return to his
native land. From a French port in Marseilles, he
boarded on July 3, 1887 the steamer "Djemnah." It
sailed to the East through the Suez Canal and
reached Saigon on the 30th of the month. Rizal
then took the steamer -Haiphong and reached
Manila near midnight of August 5.
After meeting some friends in Manila, he returned
to Calamba on August 8. Restoring his mother's
eyesight, he began to be dubbed as "German
doctor” or “Doctor Uliman" (from the word "Aleman"
which means German) and made a lot of money
because people from different places flocked to him
for a better vision.
Because of his enemies' allegation that his "Noll"
contained subversive ideas. Rizal was summoned
by the Governor-General Emilio Terrero. Seeing in
the book, Terrero nonetheless assigned to Rizal a
bodyguard, Don Jose Andrade, to protect the
balikbayan from his adversaries.
In December 1887, the Calamba folks asked Rizal's
assistance information as regards Dominican
hacienda management. It was in compliance the
order of the government to investigate the way friar
estates were run: had objectively reported. among
others, that the Dominican Order increased the
land rent and charged the tenants for nonexistent
services. Enraged by Rizal's. reports, the friars
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
pressured the governor-general "advise" the author
of the Noli to leave the country. (In other words,
"Napuno na talaga sa kanya ang mga pari.*)
Rizal's (required) second travel abroad may have
been upsetting, but it nonetheless provided him
with another opportunity to have a new set of
adventurous journeys.
Second Travel Abroad
What Jose Rizal failed to accomplish in his six-
month stay in the country during his first
homecoming was to visit his girlfriend Leonor
Rivera in Pangasinan. His father strongly opposed
the idea, sensing that the visit would put Leonor's
family in jeopardy.
In Hong Kong and Japan
On February 3, 1888, Rizal sailed to Hong Kong
onboard "Zafiro" and just stayed inside the ship
during its short stop at Amoy. He stayed at Victoria
Hotel in Hong Kong (not in Sta. Mesa) and visited
the nearby city Macao for two days along with a
friend, Jose Maria Basa. Among other things, Rizal
experienced in Hong Kong the noisy firecracker-
laden Chinese New Year and the marathon lauriat
party characterized by numerous dishes being
served. (Yes, the "lauriat" combo meal in
"Chowking" originated from this Chinese party.)
From Hong Kong, he reached Yokohama, Japan on
February 28 and proceeded to Tokyo the next day.
He lived in the Spanish legation in Tokyo upon the
invitation of its secretary, Juan Perez Caballero. In
March 1888, he heard a Tokyo band nicely playing
a European music and was astonished to find out
after the gig that some of its members were
Filipinos (G. Zaide & S. Zaide, 1984, p. 130). (From
this information, we can surmise that even during
Rizal's time, there were Filipino entertainers in
Japan ["Japayuki" or "Japayuko"]).
But if there was a person who was truly entertained
at the time, it was Rizal himself who was amused
by the Japanese girl who would pass by the
legation every day. The 23-year old Seiko Usui
whom he fondly called 'O-Sei-San' became his tour
guide and sweetheart rolled into one.
Sail to the West
But because he loved his mission more than O-Sei-
San, Rizal boarded the "Belgic" on April 13, 1888.
In the vessel, he had befriended Tetcho Suehiro, a
Japanese novelist and human rights fighter. who
was also forced by his government to leave his
country. The ship arrived in San Francisco on April
28. For a week, the ship's passengers were,
however, quarantined, allegedly because of the
cholera outbreak in the Far East. In reality, some
politicians were just questioning the arrival of the
Chinese coolies in the ship who would displace
white laborers in railroad-construction projects.
On May 6, Rizal went to Oakland. Onboard a train,
he took his evening meal in Sacramento and woke
up in Reno, Nevada. He had visited also the states
of Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, and finally
reached Nev York on May 13. On Bedloe Island, he
had seen the Statue of Liberty symbolizing freedom
and democracy. Ironically, Rizal observed that
there was racial inequality in the land and thus
concluded that real freedom was only for the
whites. (Although if Rizal were alive today, he
would be surprised to, know that the Americans
had already allowed a black guy to become their
president for two terms.)
In Great Britain, Paris, and Spain
Onboard the ship "City of Rome," Rizal sailed for
Liverpool on May 16, 1888 and arrived there on
May 24. A day after, he reached London and
stayed briefly at Dn Antonio Ma. Regidor's house.
He then boarded at the Beckett residence where he
was lovingly served by Gertrude, the daughter of
his landlord.
In June 1888, Rizal made friends with Dr. Reinhold
Rost and his family. Expert in Malayan language,
Rost had in his house a good Filipiniana library.
Our national hero was described by Rost as "a
pearl of a man" ("una perla de hombre").
In London, Rizal manually copied and annotated
Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, a rare book
available in the British Museum. He also became
the honorary president of the patriotic society
Asociacion Lg Solidaridad (Solidaridad Association)
and wrote articles for the La Solidaridad. In his 10-
month stay in London, he had short visits in Paris,
Madrid, and Barcelona. In Spain, he met Marcelo
H. del Pilar for the first time.
Del Pilar was one of the renowned members of the
Propaganda Movement, along with Graciano Lopez
Jaena (publisher of La Solidaridad), Mariano
Poncee and Rizal.
Propaganda was a patriotic socio-political
organization founded in 1872 by Filipinos who had
settled in Europe. Its members were mainly the
Filipino liberals exiled in 1872 and the Filipino
students studying in Europe's universities at the
time. Also considered a cultural and literary
organization, the Propaganda had principal
publication, the La Solidaridad.
The Propaganda primarily aimed to bring to Spain's
attention the real needs of its colony. the
Philippines. Among many other things, the
Propagandists specifically advocated (a) the
recognition of the Philippines as a province of
Spain and its (Philippines) representation in the
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Spanish parliament (Cortes Generales); (b) the
secularization of the Philippine parishes and clergy;
(c) the equality between the Spanish and the
Filipino, especially in entering government service;
(d) the establishment of governmentfunded schools
not run by the friars; (e) the abolition of the "polo"
(forced labor) and "vandala” (forced sale of local
products, to the government); and (f) the
recognition of human rights and freedom, especially
the freedoms of speech and association.
Seemingly advocating racial or cultural integration,
the Propaganda Movement is thus branded as
assimilationist. In anthropology and sociology,
assimilation is the process whereby individuals or
groups of differing ethnic heritage are absorbed into
the dominant culture of a society. The process of
assimilating involves taking on the traits of the
dominant culture (e.g., colonizer) to such a degree
that the assimilating group (e.g., the colonized
people) becomes socially indistinguishable from the
other members of the society. Contextually the
“assimilationist" stand in Rizal's time refers mainly
to the advocacy to 'have the Philippines be treated
as one of Spain's provinces.
Rizal and Del Pilar are said to have later
abandoned the "assimilationist* stand (although this
is questioned by many historians, especially those
who claim that either Rizal or Del Pilar was even
anti-revolutionary. In some sure ways, nonetheless,
both Rizal and Del Pilar inspired the establishment
and mission of Andres Bonifacio's revolutionary
society, the Katipunan).
In France
Leaving London for good, he went to Paris in March
1889. He shortly lived in the house of a friend,
Valentin Ventura, before transferring to a little room
where he had as roommates two Filipinos, one of
whom was Jose Albert, a student from Manila. In
Paris, Rizal frequented the Bibliotheque Nationale,
working on his annotation of the Sucesos. He spent
his spare hours in the houses of friends like Juan
Luna and his wife Paz Pardo de Tavera. Rizal
witnessed the Universal Exposition of Paris, having
as its greatest attraction the Eiffel Tower.
Rizal formed the Kidlat Club, a temporary social
club which brought together Filipinos witnessing the
exposition. He also organized the Indios Bravos, an
association which envisioned Filipinos being
recognized for their admirable skills in many fields.
Rizal, likewise formed the mysterious Redencion de
Ios Malayos (Redemption of the Malays), which
aimed to propagate useful knowledge. In Paris,
Rizal also finished and published his annotation of
the Sucesos.
In Belgium
After celebrating the Yuletide season in Paris in
1889, Rizal shortly visited London for the last time.
With Jose Albert, Rizal left Paris for Brussels on
January 28, 1890. The two stayed in a boarding
house administered by the Jacoby sisters (Suzanne
and Marie) where Rizal met and had a transitory
affair with (another) Suzanne (also called Petite),
the niece of his landladies.
In Belgium, Rizal busied himself with writing the Fili
and ontributing for La Solidaridad using the pen
names Dimas Alang and Laong Laan. When he
heard the news that the Calamba agrarian trouble
was getting worse, Rizal decided to go home. But
Paciano told him through a letter that they lost the
court case against the Dominicans in the
Philippines, and they intended to bring the case to
Madrid. This prompted Jose to go to Madrid instead
to look for a lawyer and influential people who
would defend there the Calamba tenants.
In Madrid
Rizal traveled to Madrid in August 1890. Along with
his lawyer, Marcelo H. del Pilar, he tried to seek
justice for his family but could not find any
influential Spaniard who could help them.
In 1890, Rizal also met in Madrid the Filipino
student Edilberto Evangelista. Perhaps sensing his
potential, Rizal counseled Evangelista to take
engineering in Belgium. Upon Rizal's advice,
Evangelista thus matriculated at the University of
Ghent, one of the world's leading engineering
schools then. Rizal's suggestion proved fruitful as
Evangelista later finished civil engineering and
architecture with highest honors. Some European
companies offered him rewarding positions, but he
turned them down for wanting to serve his country
instead ("Edilberto Evangelista: 2013).
Rizal encountered many adversities and tribulations
in Madrid. He heard that his family was forced to
leave their land in Calamba, and some family
members were even deported to far places. One
day, Rizal challenged his friend Antonio Luna to a
duel when he (Luna), being unsuccessful in
seeking Nellie Boustead's love, gave negative
comments on the lady. Rizal also dared to a duel
Wenceslao Retana of the anti-Filipino newspaper
La Epoca who wrote that Rizal's 'family was not
paying its land rent. Both duels were fortunately
aborted—Luna became Rizal's good friend again
while Retana even became Rizal's eventual first
non-Filipino biographer.
In Madrid, Rizal also heard the news of Leonor
Rivera's marriage to the Englishman Henry Kipping
who was the choice of Leonor's mother. As if
"misfortunes" were not enough, there also emerged
the Del Pilar-Rizal rivalry for leadership in the
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
"Asociacion Hispano Filipino." The supposedly
healthy election for a leader ("Responsible")
produced unpleasant split among the Filipinos in
Madrid '(the Rizalistas vs. the Pilaristas). Rizal thus
decided to leave Madrid, lest his presence results
in more serious factions among Filipinos in Madrid.
In Biarritz, Paris, and Brussels
Rizal proceeded to take a more-than-a-month
vacation in Biarritz, a tourist town in southwestern
France noted for its mild climate and sand beaches.
Arriving there in February 1891, Rizal was
welcomed as a family guest in the house of the
Bousteds, especially by Nellie with whom he later
had a serious. but failed. romantic relationship.
In Biarritz, he continued to work on his El Fili and
completed its manuscript on March 29, the eve of
his departure for Paris. Valentin Ventura hosted his
short stay in Paris, and the Jacobies, especially
Petite Suzanne cordially welcomed his arrival in
Brussels in April 1891. In Brussel, Rizal revised and
prepared for printing his second novel until the end
of May. By June 1891, he was already looking for a
printing firm to print the El Filibusterismo.
In Ghent
Rizal went to Ghent in July 1891 because the cost
of printing in the place was cheaper. He lived in a
low-cost boarding house where he had a roommate
Jose Alejandro, an engineering student in the
University of Ghent. Tightening their belts, they
rented a room exclusive of breakfast. They bought
a box of biscuit, counted the contents, and
computed for their daily ration for a month. In just
15 days. Alejandro had eaten up all his shares
whereas Rizal frugally limited himself to his daily
allocation.
The publisher F. Meyer-Van Loo Press. No. 66
Viaanderen Street agreed to print the El Fili on an
installment basis. Despite pawning all his jewels
and living tightfistedly, Rizal ran out of funds, and
the printing had to be suspended on August 6. But
through Valentin Ventura's “salvific” act, the "El
Filibusterismo” came off the press on September
18. 1891. Two weeks after, he visited Paris for the
last time to bid goodbye to his friends and
compatriots.
In Hong Kong and Sandakan
In October 1891. Rizal left Europe for Hong Kong
onboard the ship "Melbourne" on which he began
writing his third (but unfinished) novel. He arrived in
Hong Kong on November 20 and resided at No. 5
D' Aguilar Street, No. 2 Rednaxela Terrace. (In
case you did not notice. "Rednaxela- is 'Alexander'
spelled reversely).
Having escaped the friars' persecution, Don
Francisco, Paciano, and Silvestre Ubaldo (Jose's
brother-in-law) also arrived in Hong Kong. Shortly
after, afterward Dona Teodora and children Lucia.
Josefa, and Trinidad also arrived, and the Rizal
family had a sort of family reunion in the Yuletide
season of 1891.
In Hong Kong, Jose opened a medical clinic. A
Portuguese friend, Dr. Lorenzo P. Marques, helped
him to get many patrons of various nationalities. His
successful operation on his mother's left eye
allowed her to read again.
In March 1892, he went to Sandakan (East
Malaysia) aboard “Menon” to negotiate with British
authorities concerning the founding of a Filipino
colony in North Borneo (now called Sabah). On
March 21, Rizal asked
Governor-General Eulogio Despujol through a letter
to allow the landless Filipinos, especially the
deported Calamba tenants, to establish themselves
in North Borneo. Rizal was back in Hong Kong in
April 1892.
Just three days after the meeting though, Rizal was
arrested during his interview with the governor-
general. Despujol showed him anti-friar leaflets
pobres Frailes (Poor Friars) allegedly discovered in
his sister Lucia's pillow cases. Imprisoned in Fort
Santiago for almost ten days, Rizal was brought at
12:30 a.m. of July 14 to the steamer "Cebu."
Passing through Mindoro and Panay the vessel
docked at Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte on the
evening of July 17.
Dapitan was a truly scenic place with fine beaches,
for sure a soothing place for a balikbayan like Rizal.
But Jose was not there as a tourist or a vacationer,
for he was a political exile. The ship captain
Delgras handed him over to the local Spanish
commandant, Ricardo Carnicero—and that event
signaled the start of Rizal's life as a deportee in
Dapitan.

Second Homecoming

Wanting to confer with Despujol concerning his

North Borneo colonization project, Rizal left Hong
Kong on June 21, 1892 along with his sister Lucia.
Without his knowledge, the Spanish consul in Hong
Kong sent a cablegram to Despujol stating
figuratively that “the rat is in the trap" ("The Tale of
Jose Rizal,” 2013, para. 13). A secret case against
Rizal was thus filed in Manila for an anti-religious
and anti-patriotic public campaign.

Rizal and his sister arrived in Manila at noon on

June 26, 1892. At 7 p.m., he was able to confer in
Malacanan with Despujol who agreed to pardon his
father and told him to return on June 29. He then
visited his sisters and friends in Manila.

On June 27, he took a train and visited his friends

in Central Luzon. He had a stopover at the Bautista
mansion in Malolos, Bulacan and spent the night in
the house of Evaristo Puno in Tarlac, Tarlac, about
30 kilometers away from the residence of Leonor
Rivera-Kipping in Camiling. He also went to San
Fernando and Bacolor, Pampanga and returned to
Manila on June 28, at 5 pm. On June 29, 30, and
July 3, he had other interviews with Despujol.
Rizal's colonization project was rejected, but his
request to lift .the exile of his sisters was granted.

On the evening of July 3, Rizal spearheaded the

meeting in the house of Doroteo Ongjunco on
Ylaya Street, Tondo, Manila attended by at least 20
Filipinos, including Andres Bonifacio and Apolinario
Mabini. Rizal explained the aims of the civic
association La Liga Filipina. Officers were then
elected, having Ambrosio Salvador as the
president, thereby officially establishing the league.

Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)

CHAPTER V: EXILE, TRIAL, AND
DEATH
MODULE OVERVIEW
The deportee could have stayed in the Dapitan
parish convent had he retracted his anti-Catholic
pronouncements and made a general confession of
his past life. Notwilling to accede to these main
conditions set by the Jesuits, Jose Rizal instead
opted to live at the commandant's residence called
"Casa Real."
The commandant Captain Ricardo Carnicero and
Jose Rizal became such good friends that the exile
did not feel that the captain was actually his guard.
Later in his life in Dapitan, Rizal wrote a poem A
Don Ricardo Carnicero honoring the kind
commandant on the occasion of his birthday on
August 26, 1892.
In September 1892, Rizal and Carnicero won in a
lottery. The Manila Lottery ticket no. 9736 jointly
owned by Rizal, Carnicero, and a Spanish resident
of Dipolog won the second prize of Php 20, 000.
Rizal used some part of his share (Php 6, 200) in
procuring a parcel of land near the coast of Talisay,
a barrio near Dapitan. On a property of more than
10 hectares, he put up three houses made of
bamboo, wood, and nipa. He lived in the house,
which was square in shape. Another house, which
was hexagonal, was the barn where Rizal kept his
chickens. In his octagonal house lived some of his
pupils—for Rizal also established a school,
teaching young boys practical subjects, like
reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and
Spanish and English languages. Later, he
constructed additional huts to accommodate his
recovering out-of-town patients.
LEARNING CONTENTS
Daily Life as an Exile
During his exile, Rizal practiced medicine, taught
some pupils, and engaged in farming and
horticulture. He grew many fruit trees (like coconut,
mango, lanzones, makopa, santol, mangosteen,
jackfruit, guayabanos, baluno, and nanka) and
domesticated some animals (like rabbits, dogs,
cats, and chickens). The school he founded in 1293
started with only three pupils and had about more
than 20 students at the time exile ended.
Rizal would rise at five in the morning to see his
plants, feed his animals, and prepare breakfast.
Having takenhis morning meal, he would treat the
patients who had come to his house. Paddling his
boat called baroto (he had two of them) he would
then proceed to Dapitan town to attend to his other
patients there the whole morning.
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
Rizal would return to Talisay to take his lunch.
Teaching his pupils would begin at about 2 p.m.
and would end at 4 or 5 in the afternoon. With the
help of his pupils, Rizal would spend the rest of the
afternoon in farming—planting trees, watering the
plants, and pruning the fruits. Rizal then would
spend the night reading and writing.
Rizal and the Jesuits
The first attempt by the Jesuit friars to win back the
deported Rizal to the Catholic fold was the offer for
him to live in the Dapitan convent under some
conditions. Refusing to compromise, Rizal did not
stay with the parish priest Antonio Obach in the
church convent.
Just a month after Rizal was deported to Dapitan,
the Jesuit Order assigned to Dapitan the priest
Francisco de Paula Sanchez, Rizal's favorite
teacher in Ateneo. Many times, they engaged in
cordial religious discussions. But though Rizal
appreciated his mentor's efforts, he could not be
convinced to change his mind. Nevertheless, their
differences in belief did not get in the way of their
good friendship.
The priest Pablo Pastells, superior of the Jesuit
Society in the Philippines, also made some
attempts by correspondence to win over to
Catholicism the exiled physician. Four times they
exchanged letters from September 1892 to April
1893. The debate was none less than scholarly,
and it manifested Rizal's knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures for he quoted verses from it. Though
Rizal consistently attended mass in Dapitan, he
refused to espouse the conventional type of
Catholicism.
Achievements in Dapitan
Rizal provided significant community services in
Dapitan. like improving the town's drainage and
constructing better water system using empty
bottles and bamboo joints. He also taught the town
folks about health and sanitation to avoid the
spread of diseases. With his Jesuit priest friend
Sanchez, Rizal made a huge relief map of
Mindanao in Dapitan plaza. Also, he bettered the
forest there by providing evident trails, stairs, and
some benches. He invented a wooden machine for
the mass production of bricks. Using the bricks he
produced, Rizal built a water dam for the
community with the help of his students.
As the town's doctor, Rizal equally treated all
patients regardless of their economic and social
status. He accepted as "fees" things like poultry
and crops, and at times, even gave his services to
poor folks for free. His specialization was
ophthalmology, but he also offered treatments to
almost all kinds of diseases, like fever, sprain,
broken bones, typhoid, tuberculosis, and even
leprosy (Bantug & Ventura, 1997, p. 112).
Rizal also helped in the livelihood of the abaca
farmers in Dapitan by trading their crops in Manila.
He gave them lessons in abaca-weaving to
produce hammocks. Noticing that the fishing
method by the locals was inefficient, he taught
them better techniques, like weaving and using
better fishing nets.
As a Scientist and Philologist
Aside from doing archaeological excavations, Rizal
inspected Dapitan's rich flora and fauna, providing
a sort of taxonomy to numerous kinds of forest and
sea creatures. From his laboratory and herbarium,
he sent various biological specimens to scientists in
Europe, like his dear friend Doctor Adolph B. Meyer
in Dresden. In return, the European scholars sent
him books and some other academic reading
materials.
From the collections he sent to European scholars,
at least three-species were named after him: a
Dapitan frog (Rhacophorus rizali), a type of beetle
(Apogonia rizali), and a flying dragon (Draco rizali).
Having learned the Visayan language, he also
engaged himself in the study of language, culture,
and literature. He examined local folklores,
customs, Tagalog grammar, and the Malay
language. His intellectual products about these
subjects he related to some European
academicians, like Doctor Reinhold Rost, his close
philologist friend in London.
The Spies and Secret Emissary
Not just once did Rizal learn that his •enemies• sent
spies to gather incriminating proofs that 'he was a
separatist and an insurgent. Perhaps disturbed by
his conscience. a physician named Matias Arrieta
revealed his covert mission and asked for
forgiveness after he was cured by Rizal (Bantug &
Ventura. 1997, p. 1161
In March 1895. a man introduced himself to Rizal
as Pablo Mercado. Claiming to be Rizal’s relative,
this stranger eagerly volunteered to bring Rizal’s
letters to certain persons in Manila. Made
suspicious by the visitor’s insistence, Rizal
interrogated him, and it turned out that his real
name was Florencio Nanaman of Cagayan de
Misamis, paid as a secret agent by the Recollect
friars. But because it was raining that evening, the
kind Rizal did not command Nanaman out of his
house but even let the spy spend the rainy night in
his place (Bantug & Venturm 1997, p. 117).
In June the next year. a different kind of emissary
was sent to Rizal. Doctor Pio Valenzuela was sent
to Dapitan by Andres Bonifacio—the Katipunan
leader who believed that carrying out revolt had to
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
be sanctioned first by Rizal. Disguised as a mere
companion of a blind patient seeking treatment
from Rizal, Valenzuela was able to discreetly
deliver the Katipunan's message for Rizal. But Rizal
politely refused to approve the uprising, suggesting
that peaceful means was far better than violent
ways in obtaining freedom. Rizal further believed
that a revolution would be unsuccessful without
arms and monetary support from wealthy Filipinos.
He thus recommended that if the Katipunan were to
start a revolution, it had to ask for the support of
rich and educated Filipinos, like Antonio Luna who
was an expert on military strategy (Bantug &
Ventura, 1997, p. 133)
Visited by loved ones
Rizal was in Dapitan when he learned that his true
love Leonor Rivera had died. What somewhat
consoled his desolate heart was the visits of his
mother and some sisters.
In August 1893, Dona Teodora, along with
daughter Trinidad. joined Rizal in Dapitan and
resided with him in his casa cuadrada (square
house). The son successfully operated on his
mother's cataract,
At distinct times, Jose's sisters Maria and Narcisa
also visited him. Three of Jose's nephews likewise
went to Dapitan and had their early education
under their uncle: Maria's son Mauricio (Moris) and
Lucia'ssons Teodosio
(Osio) and Estanislao (Tan). Jose's niece Angelica,
Narcisa’s daughter, also experienced living for
some time with her exiled uncle in Mindanao.
In 1895, Dona Teodora left Dapitan for Manila with
Don Francisco who was getting weaker. Shortly,
after his mother left, Josephine Bracken came to
Jose’s life. Josephine was an orphan with Irish
blood and the stepdaughter of Jose's patient from
Hong Kong. Rizal and Bracken were unable to
obtain a church wedding because Jose would not
retract his anti-Catholic views. He nonetheless
took.
Josephine as his common-law wife who kept him
company and kept house for him. Before the year
ended in 1895, the couple had a child who was
born prematurely. The son who was named after
Rizal's father (Francisco) and died a few hours after
birth.
Goodbye Dapitan
In 1895, Blumentritt informed Rizal that the
'revolution-ridden Cuba, another nation colonized
by Spain, was raged by a yellow-fever epidemic.
Because there was a shortage of physicians to
attend to war victims and disease-stricken people,
Rizal in December 1895 wrote to the then
Governor-General Ramon Blanco, volunteering to
provide medical services in Cuba. Receiving no
reply from Blanco, Rizal lost interest in his request.
But on July 30, 1896, Rizal received a letter from
the governor-general sanctioning his petition to
serve as volunteer physician in Cuba. Rizal made
immediate preparations to leave, selling and giving
as souvenirs to friends and students his various
properties.
In the late afternoon of July 31, Rizal got on the
"Espana" with Josephine, Narcisa„ a niece, three
nephews, and three of his students. Many Dapitan
folks, especially Rizal’s students came to see their
beloved doctor for the last time. Cordially bidding
him goodbye, they shouted "Adios, Dr. Rizal!" as
some of his students even cried. With sorrowing
heart, he waved his hand in farewell to the
generous and loving Dapitan folks, saying, "Adios,
Dapitan!”
The steamer departed for Manila at midnight of July
31, 1896. With tears in his eyes, Rizal later wrote in
his diary onboard the ship, "I have been in that
district four years, thirteen days, and a few hours"
(as cited in G. Zaide & S. Zaide, 1984, p. 242).
From Dapitan to Trial in Fort Santiago
Various significant events happened during Rizal's
trip from Dapitan to Manila. Leaving Dapitan for
Manila on July 31, 1896, the steamer Espana with
Rizal as a passenger made some stopovers in
various areas. In Dumaguete, Rizal had visited
some friends like a former classmate from Madrid
and had cured a sick Guardia Civil captain. In
Cebu, he carried out four operations and gave out
prescriptions to many other patients. Going to Iloilo,
he saw the historical Mactan Island. He went
shopping and was impressed by the Molo church in
Iloilo. The ship then sailed to Capiz, to Romblon,
and finally to Manila.
In Manila
As the steamer approached Luzon, there was an
attempt by the Katipuneros to help Rizal escape
(Bantug & Ventura, 1997. p. 135). The Katipunero
Emilio Jacinto, disguising himself as a ship crew
member, had managedto get close to Rizal, while
another Katipunan member, Guillermo Masankay,
circled the ship in a boat. Firm in his aim to fulfill his
mission in Cuba, Rizal was said to have refused to
be rescued by Katipunan's envoys. (Another
version of this story claims that the rescue attempt
happened when Rizal's ship was already docked at
Manila Bay.)
Rizal arrived in Manila on August 6, 1896, a day
after the mail boat Isla de Luzon had left for Spain,
and so he had to stay in Manila until the next
steamer arrived. Afraid that his one-month Stay
onboard the ship might bring him troubles, he
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
requested the governor-general that he (Rizal) be
isolated from everyone except his family. The
government reacted by transferring him near
midnight of the same day to the cruiser Castilla
docked at Cavite.
On August 19, the Katipunan plot to revolt against
the Spanish authorities was discovered through the
confession of a certain Teodoro Patino to Mariano
Gil, Augustinian cura of Tondo. This discovery led
to the arrest of many Katipuneros. The Katipunan
led by Bonifacio reacted by convening many of its
members and deciding to immediately begin the
armed revolt. As a sign of their commitment to the
revolution, they tore their cedulas (residence
certificates).
Katipunan's first major assaults happened on
August 29 and 30 when the Katipuneros attacked
the Civil Guard garrison in Pasig and more
significantly the 100 Spanish soldiers protecting the
powder magazine in San Juan. But because
Spanish reinforcements arrived, about 150
Katipuneros were killed and more than 200 were
taken prisoner. This bloody encounter in San Juan
and the uprisings in some other suburban Manila
areas on that same day prompted the governor-
general to proclaim a state of war in Manila and
seven other nearby provinces.
On the same day (August 30), Blanco issued letters
of recommendation on Rizal's behalf to the Spanish
Minister of War and the Minister of Colonies with a
cover letter clearing Rizal of any connection to the
raging revolution. On September 2, he was
transported to the ship Isla de Panay.
Going to Spain
The steamer Isla de Panay left Manila for
Barcelona the next day. Arriving in Singapore on
September 7, Rizal was urged by some Filipinos,
like his co-passenger Don Pedro Roxas and
Singaporean resident Don Manuel Camus to stay in
the British-controlled territory. Trusting Blanco's
words, Rizal refused to stay in Singapore. Without
his knowledge, however, Blanco and the Ministers
of War and the Colonies had been exchanging
telegrams, planning his arrest upon reaching
Barcelona.
As Isla de Panay made a stopover at Port Said,
Egypt on September 27, the passengers had
known that the uprising in the Philippines got worse
as thousands of Spanish soldiers were dispatched
to Manila, and many Filipinos were either killed in
the battle, or arrested and executed. Rizal had the
feeling that he had already been associated with
the Filipino revolution as his co-passengers
became aloof to him. A day after, he wrote a letter
to Blumentritt informing him that he (Rizal) received
some information that Blanco had an order to arrest
him. Before reaching Malta on September 30, he
was officially ordered to stay in his cabin until
further orders from Blanco come.
With Rizal as a prisoner onboard, the Isla de Panay
anchored at Barcelona on October 3, 1896. He was
placed under heavy guard by the then Military
Commander of Barcelona, General Eulogio
Despujol—the same former governor- general who
deported Rizal to Dapitan in 1892. Early in the
morning of October 6, he was transported to
Monjuich prison-fortress. In the afternoon, he was
brought to Despujol who told him that there was an
order to ship him (Rizal) back to Manila in the
evening.
He was then taken aboard the ship "Colon" which
left for Manila at 8 p.m. The ship was full of Spanish
soldiers and their families who were under orders
not to go near or talk to Rizal. Though he was
allowed to take walks on deck during the journey,
he was locked up and handcuffed before reaching
any port.
Last Homecoming
Arriving in Manila as a prisoner on November 3,
1896, Rizal detained in Fort Santiago where he had
been imprisoned four years ago. To gather pieces
of evidence against him, some of his friends,
acquaintances, members of the La Liga, and even
his brother Paciano were tortured and forcibly
questioned. As a preliminary investigation, Rizal
underwent a series of interrogations administered
by one of the judges, Colonel Francisco Olive—the
same military leader who led the troops that forced
the Rizal family to vacate their Calarnba home in
1290. Those who were coerced to testify against
Rizal were not allowed to be cross-examined by the
accused.
Rizal was said to have admitted knowing most of
those questioned, •though he would deny to the
end that he knew either Andres Bonifacio or
Apolinario Mabini (Bantug & Ventura, 1997, p. 141).
Fifteen pieces of documentary evidence were
presented—Rizal's letters, letters of his
compatriots, like Marcelo del Pilar and Antonio
Luna, a poem (Kundiman), a Masonic document,
two transcripts of speech of Katipuneros (Emilio
Jacinto and Jose Turiano Santiago), and Rizal's
poem A Talisay. The testimonial evidence involved
the oral testimonies of 13 Filipinos notably including
that of La Liga officers like Ambrosio Salavador and
Deodato Arellano, and the Katipunero Pio
Valenzuela.
Olive submitted the reports to Blanco on November
26, and Captain Rafael Dominguez was assigned
as special Judge Advocate in Rizal's case.
Dominguez made a summary of the case and
delivered it to Blanco who subsequently sent the
papers to Judge Advocate-General Don Nicolas
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
dela Pena. After examining the case, Pena
recommended that (a) Rizal be instantly brought to
trial, (b) he be kept in jail. (c) an order of
attachment be issued against his property, and (d)
a Spanish army officer not a civilian lawyer be
permitted to defend him in court.
On December 8, Rizal was given the restricted right
to choose his lawyer from a list of 100 Spanish
army officers. He chose Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade
who turned out to be the younger brother of his
bodyguard-friend in Calamba in 1887, Jose Taviel
de Andrade. Three days after (December 11), the
formal charges were read to Rizal in his prison cell,
with Andrade on his side. In short, he was accused
of being the main organizer and the "living soul" of
the revolution having proliferated ideas of rebellion
and of founding illegal organizations. He pleaded
not guilty to the crime of rebellion and explained
that La Liga, the constitution of which he wrote, was
just a civic organization.
On December 13 the day Camilo G. de Polavieja
replaced Blanco as governor general, papers of
Rizal’s criminal case were sent to Malacanang.
Concerned about the welfare of his people, Rizal
on December 15 wrote a manifesto appealing to
the revolutionaries to discontinue the uprising and
pursue to attain liberty instead by means of
education and of labor. But De la Pena interpreted
the manifesto as all the more advocating the Spirit
of rebellion as it ultimately willed the Filipino liberty.
Polavieja thus disallowed to issue Rizal's
manifesto.
The Rat in the Kangaroo Court
On the morning of December 26, the Filipino patriot
who was once figuratively referred to by Spanish
officials as a “trapped rat” appeared in the
kangaroo court inside the military building, Cuartel
de Espafia. He was tried before seven members of
the military court with Lt. Col. Jose Togores Arjona
acting as the president.
Judge Advocate Dominguez presented Rizal’s
criminal case followed by the lengthy speech of
Prosecuting Attorney Enrique de Alcocer. To
appeal to the emotions of the Spanish judges,
Alcocer went as far as dramatically mentioning the
Spanish soldiers who had died in the Filipino
traitorous revolt and discriminately describing Rizal
as a typical 'Oriental,' who had presumed to rise
from a lower social scale in order to attain powers
and positions that could never be his” (Bantug &
Ventura, 1997, p. 144). At the end, Alcocer
petitioned for a death sentence for Rizal and an
indemnity of twenty thousand pesos.
Rizal's defense counsel, Lt. Andrade, then took the
floor and tried his very best to save his client by
reading his responsive defense, stressing, too, that
it was but natural for anyone to yearn for liberty and
independence. Afterward, Rizal was allowed to
read his complementary defense consisting of
logical proofs that he could have not taken part in
the revolution and that La Liga was distinct from
Katipunan. He argued, among others, that he even
advised the Katipunan emissary (Valenzuela) in
Dapitan not to pursue the plan to revolt; the
revolutionists had used his name without his
knowledge; he could have escaped either in
Dapitan or Singapore if he were guilty; and the civic
group La Liga, which died out upon his exile did not
serve the purpose of the uprising, and that he had
no knowledge about its reformation.
Lt. Col. Arjona then declared the trial over.
Expectedly, the entire defense was indifferently
disregarded in Rizal's mock trial as it
instantaneously considered him guilty. The jury
unanimously voted for the death sentence. The trial
ended with the reading of the sentence— Jose
Rizal was found guilty, and the sentence was death
by firing squad.
On December 28, Governor-General Polavieja
signed the court decision and decreed that the
guilty be executed by firing squad at 7 a.m. of
December 30, 1896 at Bagumbayan (Luneta).
Because Rizal was also required to sign the verdict,
he stoically signed his own death sentence.
Last 25 hours
Accounts on Jose Rizal's last hours vary and
largely depend on the historian one is reading.
What happened in Rizal’s life from 6 a.m. of
December 29, 1896 until his execution was
perhaps the most controversial in his biography, for
the divisive claims—like his supposed retraction an
Catholic marriage with Bracken—allegedly
occurred within this time frame.
From 6 am to 12 Noon
Standard biography states that at 6 a.m. of
December 29, Judge Advocate Dominguez formally
read the death sentence to Rizal. At about 7 a.m.,
he was transferred to either his -death cell- or -
prison chapel: He was visited by Jesuit priests,
Miguel Saderra Mata and Luis Viza. They brought
the medal of the Ateneo's Marian Congregation of
which Rizal was a member and the wooden statue
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus he had carved in the
school. Rizal put the wooden image on his table
while he rejected the medal saying "I’m little of a
Marian, Father: ("Rizal's Last Hours: n.d„ para. 5).
At 8 a.m., the priest Antonio Rosell arrived, after his
co-priest Viza left. Rizal shared his breakfast with
Rosell. Later, Lt. Andrade came and Rizal thanked
his defense lawyer. Santiago Mataix of the Spanish
newspaper El Heraldo de Madrid interviewed Rizal
at about 9 a.m. Then came the priest Federico
Faura at about 10 a.m. He advised Rizal to forget
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
about his resentment and marry Josephine
canonically. The two had a heated discussion about
religion as witnessed by Rosell ("Rizal's Last
Hours: n.d.. para. 8).
Two other priests, Jose Vilaclara and Vicente
Balaguer (missionary in Dapitan). also visited Rizal
at about 11 a.m. The Jesuits tried to convince Rizal
to write a retraction. Though still believing in the
Holy Scriptures, Rizal supposedly refused to retract
his anti-Catholic views, exclaiming, "Look Fathers,
if I should assent to an you say and sign all you
want me to, just to please you, neither believing nor
feeling, I would be a hypocrite and would then be
offending God" (Bantug & Ventura. 1997, p. 147).
At noon, Rizal was left alone in his cell. He had his
lunch, read the Bible, and meditated. About this
time, Balaguer reported to the Archbishop that only
a little hope remained that Rizal would retract
("Rizal's Last Hours” n.d., para. 10). Refusing to
receive visitors for the mean time, Rizal probably
finished his last poem at this moment. Rizal also
wrote to Blumentritt his last letter in which he called
the Austrian scholar "my best, my dearest cited in
Cueto, 2012, para. 7).
He then had a talk with priests Estanislao March
and Vilaclara at about 2 p.m. Balaguer then
returned to
Rizal's cell at 3:30 p.m, and allegedly discussed
(again) about Rizal's retraction (G. Zaide & S.
Zaide, 1984, p. 265). Rizal then wrote letters and
dedications and rested shortly.
At 4 p.m„ the sorrowful Dona Teodora and Jose's
sisters went to see the sentenced Rizal. The
mother was not allowed a last embrace by the
guard, but her beloved son, in quiet grief, managed
to press a kiss on her hand. Dominguez was said to
have been moved with compassion at the sight of
Rizal's kneeling before his mother and asking for
forgiveness ("Rizal's Last Hours," n.d., para. 14).
As the dear visitors were, leaving, Jose handed
over to Trinidad an alcohol cooking stove, a gift
from the Pardo de Taveras, whispering to her in a
language which the guards could not comprehend,
"There is something in it." That "something" was
Rizal's elegy now known as Mi Ultimo Adios
(Bantug & Ventura, 1997, p. 149)
The Dean of the Manila Cathedral, Don Silvino
Lopez Tunon, went to see Rizal to exchange some
views with him at about 5:30 p.m. Balaguer and
March then left, leaving Vilaclara and Tunon in
Rizal's cell. As Rosell was leaving at about 6 p.m.,
Josephine Bracken arrived in Fort Santiago. Rizal
called for her, and they emotionally talked with
each other ("Rizal's Last Hours," n.d., para. 16).
The Night of December 29
At 7 p.m., Faura returned and convinced Rizal to
trust him and some other Ateneo professors. After
some quiet moments, Rizal purportedly confessed
to Faura ("Rizal's Last Hours," n.d., para: 17).
Rizal then took his last supper at about 8 p.m. and
attended to his personal needs. He then told
Dominguez that he had forgiven his enemies and
the military judges who sentenced him to death. At
about 9 or 9:30 p.m., Manila's Royal Audiencia
Fiscal Don Gaspar Cestano arrived and had an
amiable talk with Rizal.
Historians Gregorio and Sonia Zaide alleged that at
10 p.m. Rizal and some. Catholic priests worked on
the hero's retraction (1984. pp. 265-266).
Supposedly, Balaguer brought to Rizal a retraction
draft made by Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda,
but Rizal did not like it for being long. A shorter
retraction made by Jesuit Pio Pi was then offered to
Rizal, which he allegedly liked, So it was said that
he wrote his retraction renouncing freemasonry and
his anti-Catholic ideas. (Zaides' book, nonetheless,
admitted that the supposed retraction is now a
(very) controversial document. For many reasons,
Rizal's assumed retraction and his supposed
church marriage with Bracken have been
considered highly dubious by many Rizal scholars.)
Rizal then spent the night resting until the crack of
dawn of December 30, perhaps praying and
meditating once in a while.
The Early Morning of December 30
The Zaides alleged that at 3 a.m., Rizal heard
Mass, confessed sins, and took Communion (1984,
p. 266). At about 4 a.m., Rizal picked up the book
Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, read, and
meditated. At 5 a.m. he washed up, attended to his
personal needs, read the Bible, and contemplated.
For breakfast, he was given three boiled eggs.
Rizal's grandniece Asuncion Lopez-Rizal Bantug
mentioned "three soft-boiled eggs" and narrated
that Rizal ate two of them (Bantug & Ventura, 1997,
pp. 151-152). Historian Ambeth R. Ocampo, on the
other hand, wrote "three hardboiled eggs" and
related that Rizal "did not have any breakfast"
(Ocampo, 2012, p. 227). Both historians
nevertheless wrote that Rizal placed the boiled egg
(or eggs) to a cell corner, saying in effect, "This is
for the rats, let them celebrate likewise!"
Afterward, Rizal wrote letters, one addressed to his
family and another to Paciano. To his family, he
partly wrote, "I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I
cause you ... I die resigned, hoping that with my
death you will be left in peace: He also left this
message to his sisters: "I enjoin you to forgive one
another-. Treat your old parents as you would like
to be treated by your children later. Love them very
much in my memory." To Paciano, he partially
wrote, "I am thinking now how hard you have
Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)
worked to give me a career ... I know that you have
suffered much on my account, and I am sorry" (as
cited in G. Zaidé & S. Zaide, 1984, pp. 266-267).
Though some accounts, state that Bracken was
forbidden from seeing Rizal on this fateful day the
Zaides wrote that at 5:30 a.m., she and Rizal's
sister Josefa came. The couple was said to have
embraced for the last time, and Rizal gave to
Josephine the book Imitation of Christ on which he
wrote the dedication: “To my dear and unhappy
wife, Josephine/ December 30th, 1896/ Jose Rizal"
(1984 p. 267).
Before Rizal made his death march to
Bagumbayan, he managed to pen his last letters to
his beloved parents.
To Don Francisco, he wrote, "Pardon me for the
pain which I repay you... Good bye,
Father, goodbye„.". Perhaps told by the authorities
that the march was about to begin, Rizal managed
to write only the following to his mother (as cited in
G. Zaide & S. Zaide, 1984, p. 268):
To my very dear Mother,
Sra. Dona. Teodora Alonso
6 0'clock in the morning, December 30, 1896.
Jose Rizal
Slow Walk to Death
At 6:30 a.m., Rizal in black suit and black bowler
hat, tied elbow to elbow, began his slow walk to
Bagumbayan. He walked along with his defense
lawyer, Andrade, and two Jesuit priests, March and
Vilaclara. In front of them were the advance guards
of armed soldiers and behind them was another
group of military men. The sound of a trumpet
signaled the start of the death march, and the
muffled sound of drums served as the musical
score of the walk.
Early on that morning, many people had eagerly
lined the streets. Some were sympathetic to him,
others—especially the Spaniards—wanted nothing
less than to see him die. Some observed that Rizal
kept keenly looking around, and "it was believed
that his family or the Katipuneros would make a
last-minute effort to spring him from the trap"
(Ocampo, 2012, p. 228).
Once in a while, Rizal conversed with the priests,
commenting on things like his happy years at the
Ateneo as they passed by Intramuros. Commenting
on the clear morning, he was said to have uttered
something like, "What a beautiful morning! On days
like this, I used to take a walk here with my
sweetheart" (Ocampo, 2012, p. 228).
After some minutes, they arrived at the historic
venue of execution. Filipino soldiers were
deliberately chosen to compose the firing squad.
Behind them stood their Spanish counterparts,
ready to execute them also should they decline to
do the job.

There was just a glitch in the proceeding as Rizal

refused to kneel and declined the traditional
blindfold. Maintaining that he was not a traitor to his
country and to Spain, he even requested to face
the firing squad. After some sweet-talk, Rizal finally
agreed to turn his back to the firing squad on the
condition that he would be shot not in the head—
but in the small of the back instead.

When agreement had been reached, Rizal

thankfully shook the hand of his defense lawyer.
The military physician then asked permission to feel
the pulse of the man who had only a few minutes to
live. The curious doctor was startled to find Rizal's
pulse normal. Before leaving Rizal in his appointed
place, the priests offered him a crucifix to kiss "but
he turned his head away and silently prepared for
his death" (Ocampo, 2012, p. 228).

When the command had been given, the

executioners' long guns barked at once. Rizal
yelled Christ's two last words "Consummatum est!”
(It is finished!) as he simultaneously exerted a final
effort to twist his bullet-pierced body halfway
around. Facing the sky, Jose Rizal fell on the
ground dead at exactly 7:03 on the morning of
December 30, 1896.

Junio, Regina – Rizal Reviewer (Midterms)